The Sit-Ins: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Following, on May 4, 1961, a mixed group of 13 African Americans and white civil rights activist led the Freedom Rides (Freedom Rides?). Similar, to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides traveled to various cities in the south to protest against segregation of the bus terminals. History.com staff concurs “the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals.” The purpose of the freedom riders was to openly disobey the Jim Crow laws in the south in a nonviolent fashion. This was a dangerous journey, many of these people were beaten, arrested, and even the buses were destroyed. Yet, they persevered (“Freedom Riders: The Nashville Connection”). History.com staff, adds “The Freedom Riders, were recruited by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a U.S. civil rights group, they departed from Washington D.C., and attempted to integrate facilities at bus terminals along the way in the Deep South.” African Americans would try to use the “whites only” bathrooms and counters, which attracted attention and violence (Freedom Rides). According to the history.com staff due to the efforts of the Freedom Rides, “in September 1961, the interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in bus and train nationwide.” The

The Greensboro sit-ins occurred in 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Greensboro Sit-Ins was a movement with the purpose to banish the inequalities that black people faced. A black person was treated very differently, unequally, and unfairly compared to how a white person was treated. The Greensboro Sit-Ins was noted to be one of the most important events in the Civil Rights movement. Racism and unequal treatment had been a common occurrence around North Carolina since colonial times. Even though slavery was abolished, black people felt they deserved just as much equal freedom as a white person.

The Greensbro sit-ins first started on February 1st, 1960. Four black college freshman in Greensbro, North Carolina, visited a white-only Woolsworth's lunch counter where they demanded service. The black waitress refused to serve them, remarking that "fellows like you make our race look bad,". Regardless of this, the four men stayed seated. They returned the next day with nineteen classmates, and the day after that with eighty-five. By the end of the week there were over one-thousand black students attending the sit-in. The Sit-in movement began to spread throughout the South, though this time not just at lunch counters. The transportation industry, restaurants, and even voter registration were all recipients of this movement. The goal was

The sit-in movement acted as a major protest and turning point for the Civil Rights Movement. The sit-ins highlighted the main moral issue that was being fought: racial discrimination and segregation. Blacks utilized the strategies of nonviolence and student involvement in order to combat the moral issue of racial segregation (“Ain’t Scared of Your Jails”).

By the late 1950s, the African American community was ready to fight for the major social change that it had always deserved. In the South, Jim Crow legislation had mandated "separate but equal" treatment for African Americans since 1876. African Americans were not given equality, however, and leaders emerged from the community to push for African American civil rights. In the effort to desegregate public buildings and transportation, people began to hold sit-ins. These involved peacefully occupying a space in a place such as a hotel, bus, or restaurant as an act of protest. Some early forms of the sit-in movement were the Freedom Rides, which were developed to test a 1946 Supreme Court decision declaring that segregation on interstate

They refused to move to the segregated spots on the bus once they arrived in a segregated state. The events that caused the Freedom Riders was the segregation on public transportation. Some groups that were involved in the Freedom Riders were the Congress on Racial Equality, since the organization recruited the Freedom Riders, and also the Interstate Commerce Commission, because that organization was the one to prohibit segregation on busses and trains throughout America in September 1961(“Freedom Riders”). There was a need for the formation of the freedom Riders because it was clear to many people that segregation on public transportation was not only an outdated practice, but also racist, it needed to be stopped once and for

On an early morning in November 1959, the group of students and John would test sit-ins in lunch counters to test if they would actually serve them their food or not. Like the usual, they had to leave the place because due to store policy they could not serve colored people there. After this, they will continue to go to the same restaurant and sit there and here the same words they heard daily. Nothing was going to stop them. Not only were they kicked out but they were called niggers and were told to leave back to Africa. It was these sit-ins that started the march for

Blacks have long endured the brutality of criticism because of their skin color. The Freedom Riders took on abuse and a burning bus to test the Court’s ruling, equal transportation for Blacks and Whites. Non-violent sit-ins were another step towards getting Blacks equal rights. Four African American college students walked up to a

The sit-ins that started it all were the Greensboro, North Carolina. The date of this sit-in is February 1, 1960. The time was at about noon, one o’clock. There was were four boys that started the sit-in. Their names were Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr, and David Richmond. The location was Greensboro, North Carolina. The boys didn’t really plan this sit-in ahead of time, they just walked into the store and sat down waiting for their service, but they never got it. People knew about the sit-ins about twenty four hours later. Once the very first sit-in happened that day, it was just organized from then on. People knew to come in more and more every day.

The Freedom Riders left Washington and tried to integrate facilities at bus terminals along the way into the Deep South. African-American Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters. The group encountered violence from white protestors along the route, but also drew international attention to their cause. Over the next few months, several hundred Freedom Riders engaged in similar actions. In September 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations stopping segregation in bus and train stations all over the world.

I was apart of the NAACP and I made many speeches and I gave blacks hope that one day we will get along with whites. The Little Rock Nine made history, they were a group of nine African Americans that attended an all white school on Arkansa. They had protection from troops that helped keep them save from the angry whites. All of this lead to the March on Washington, this was a big rally that was about having freedom and jobs. There was more than 200,000 people their to support us, there were songs be performed such as civil rights songs that were for encouragement that we slao sang during the marches .This was very important to us so we could get our equality rights and make a difference. At the rally they were many speakers that gave important

For decades, African Americans fought for their rights as equal American citizens. It wasn’t until Martin Luther King Jr. started writing speeches and leading nonviolent protests that the white majority started listening. One of these protests was in Birmingham, Alabama, where King was leading a sit-in at a lunch counter. King and his followers were subjected to violence and arrest for these nonviolence protests for their civil rights. Another way King protested for African American rights were through his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” which acknowledged that, contrary to the government’s belief, not all men are equal. His “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” was his letter to the clergymen who were critical of his activities and his “I Have a Dream

During the Civil Rights Movement there were negative laws which led to protests, and those protests led to positive change. These were all part of the harsh Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a time of long struggle and strength.

Beginning in1960, with the Greensboro, North Carolina, sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter, the sit-in strategies spread like out of control fire all through the South. These strategies started the most intense period of America's Civil Rights Movement, which topped throughout the following five tumultuous years. The anxious youngsters had been basically right: Direct-activity dissent, particularly on the off chance that it incited brutality by white radicals, was the most profitable methods for social equality movement.

Civil disobedience was key in the pursuit of equality for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Through forms of peaceful protest, African Americans were able to bring to light the socio-economic inequalities they faced and forced the government and general public to do something about it. Sit-ins, one method of practicing civil disobedience, took root in the early 1960s and quickly became a popular and effective form of peaceful protest. James Baldwin makes a very brief note of sit-ins in his essay “Down at the Cross”. Its brief mention is probably due to the time at which the essay was written, just before sit-ins became a national phenomenon. At first glance, one may think that Baldwin doesn‘t think