African American History 4

Sit-ins (movement/campaign)

🗓 Major outbreak: February 1, 1960
📍Greensboro, NC → Spread across Southern U.S.
📌 A nonviolent direct-action protest tactic where Black students would sit at segregated lunch counters and refuse to leave when denied service.
🧠 Inspired by earlier protests (1940s CORE actions), but exploded in 1960.
⚡ Became a national movement → 51 cities in 8 states by April, 112 cities by October 1960.
🎯 Resulted in desegregation of many public facilities (e.g., Woolworth’s on July 25, 1960)

The Greensboro Four

🗓 February 1, 1960
📍F.W. Woolworth Store, Greensboro, NC
👥 Four Black freshmen from North Carolina A&T:

• Joseph A. McNeil

• Franklin E. McCain

• David L. Richmond

• Ezell Blair Jr.
  📌 Sat at the lunch counter, ordered coffee, were denied service, and stayed until closing.
  📣 Ignited the sit-in movement across the South.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

🗓 Founded in 1942, Chicago
📌 One of the “Big Four” civil rights organizations.
🎯 Promoted nonviolent protest and racial equality.
📣 Organized the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation (1st Freedom Ride), and helped spark sit-ins and Freedom Rides.

Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)

🗓 Founded in 1914 (UK) – U.S. chapter in 1915
📌 Pacifist organization that advocated nonviolent resistance and spiritual activism.
📣 Supported civil rights through publications (e.g. Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story comic, 1958), workshops, and co-sponsored the Journey of Reconciliation.

James Lawson, Jr.

🗓 Born 1928 – active 1950s–60s
📌 Conscientious objector; studied Gandhi’s nonviolence in India.
🎓 Expelled from Vanderbilt for supporting sit-ins.
🧠 Led nonviolence workshops in Nashville; taught student activists passive resistance.
📣 Helped found SNCC; drafted its “Statement of Purpose” in April 1960.

Diane Nash

🗓 Born May 15, 1938
📌 Chicago-born leader of the Nashville Student Movement.
🎓 Attended Howard University → transferred to Fisk University.
🧠 First Chair of Central Committee, Nashville Student Movement.
📣 Organized sit-ins and Freedom Rides; key SNCC leader.

John Lewis

🗓 Born February 21, 1940 – Died 2020
🎓 Attended American Baptist Theological Seminary and Fisk University.
📌 Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
📣 Became Chairman of SNCC (1963–1966).
🚶 Key leader in the sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and Selma March.

Nashville Student Movement

🗓 Formed early 1960
📍Nashville, TN
📌 Coalition of students from HBCUs (especially Fisk University), mentored by James Lawson.
🎯 Aimed to desegregate department store lunch counters through sustained sit-ins.
⚡ Most successful sit-in campaign → by May 10, 1960, Nashville officials agreed to desegregate.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

🗓 Founded April 1960, Raleigh, NC
📌 Emerged from a student conference organized by the SCLC at Shaw University.
👥 150 students from 9 states attended.
🎯 SNCC focused on grassroots organizing, nonviolent protest, and direct action.
🧠 Ella Baker encouraged it to be a decentralized and democratic group.
📢 Founders/leaders: Marion Barry (1st chairman), James Lawson, Diane Nash, John Lewis.