important groups in the civil rights movement - naacp , sncc and core

contenxt

Martin Luther King was seen as the unofficial leader of the demand for full black American rights, he and the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) were not the only ones trying to achieve equality. Many organisations and individuals played an important role in the civil rights movement: • NAACP litigation won great moral victories such as Brown (1954), which inspired activists such as Rosa Parks.

Greensboro Sit-ins & SNCC

• 1960: 4 Black students staged sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC

  • Inspired 70,000+ students to join sit-ins across the South

  • Woolworth’s desegregated due to financial pressure

• SNCC formed (1960): grassroots activism, voter registration in Mississippi Delta (1961–64)

  • Freedom Summer (1964): 17,000 attempted to register, only 1,600 succeeded due to KKK violence and white obstruction

• AO2:

• Non-violent direct action mobilised youth and forced desegregation

• SNCC showed shift from legal challenges to mass participation and voter empowerment

freedom rides , 1961

• 1961: CORE launched Freedom Rides to test Supreme Court rulings banning segregation on interstate buses (1946, 1960)

• Black and white activists rode together, defied segregated facilities → attacked by mobs (e.g. Anniston, Alabama)

• National media exposed Southern racism → forced federal protection

• Attorney General Robert Kennedy intervened to enforce desegregation rulings

• AO2: Direct action + media pressure forced federal enforcement; highlighted limits of legal victories alone

SCLC and Legislative change

• MLK & SCLC led:

  • Birmingham campaign (1963) → exposed brutality, gained national sympathy

  • March on Washington (1963) → pressured Congress → Civil Rights Act (1964) ended de jure segregation

  • Selma campaign (1965) → led to Voting Rights Act (1965)

• AO2: Strategic non-violent protest + federal pressure = major legislative breakthroughs

aims of these organisations

• Eisenhower:

  • Initially reluctant, but sent troops to enforce school integration at Little Rock (1957)

  • Passed Civil Rights Acts (1957, 1960) to support Black voting and desegregation → largely ineffective but first in 100 years

• Kennedy:

  • Hesitant at first; feared protests provoked violence and harmed US global image

  • Responded to:

  • Freedom Rides → federal protection

  • James Meredith case → enforced university integration

  • Birmingham campaign → increased federal engagement

• AO2:

• Activism by SCLC, SNCC, CORE forced federal action

• Media pressure and Northern Black vote influenced presidential decisions

• Federal response was reactive, not proactive — legal change required sustained protest