Kimberley Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387421
- eISBN:
- 9780199776771
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387421.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Historians of the Civil Rights era typically treat the key events of the 1950s Brown v. Board of Education — sit-ins, bus boycotts, and marches — as contributing toward a revolutionary social ...
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Historians of the Civil Rights era typically treat the key events of the 1950s Brown v. Board of Education — sit-ins, bus boycotts, and marches — as contributing toward a revolutionary social upheaval that upended a rigid caste system. While the 1950s was a watershed era in Southern and civil rights history, the tendency has been to paint the preceding Jim Crow era as a brutal system that featured none of the progressive reform impulses so apparent at the federal level and in the North. As the author shows in this reappraisal of the Jim Crow era, this argument is too simplistic, and is true to neither the 1950s nor the long era of Jim Crow that finally solidified in 1910. Focusing on the political development of the South between 1910 and 1954, this book considers the genuine efforts by white and black progressives to reform the system without destroying it. These reformers assumed that the system was there to stay, and therefore felt that they had to work within it in order to modernize the South. Consequently, white progressives tried to install a better — meaning more equitable — separate-but-equal system, and elite black reformers focused on ameliorative (rather than confrontational) solutions that would improve the lives of African Americans. The book concentrates on local and state reform efforts throughout the South in areas like schooling, housing, and labor. Many of the reforms made a difference, but they had the ironic impact of generating more demand for social change among blacks. The author is able to show how demands slowly rose over time, and how the system laid the seeds of its own destruction. The reformers' commitment to a system that was less unequal — albeit not truly equal — and more like the North, led to significant policy changes over time. As this book demonstrates, our lack of knowledge about the cumulative policy transformations resulting from the Jim Crow reform impulse, impoverishes our understanding of the Civil Rights revolution. Reforming Jim Crow aims to rectify that.Less
Historians of the Civil Rights era typically treat the key events of the 1950s Brown v. Board of Education — sit-ins, bus boycotts, and marches — as contributing toward a revolutionary social upheaval that upended a rigid caste system. While the 1950s was a watershed era in Southern and civil rights history, the tendency has been to paint the preceding Jim Crow era as a brutal system that featured none of the progressive reform impulses so apparent at the federal level and in the North. As the author shows in this reappraisal of the Jim Crow era, this argument is too simplistic, and is true to neither the 1950s nor the long era of Jim Crow that finally solidified in 1910. Focusing on the political development of the South between 1910 and 1954, this book considers the genuine efforts by white and black progressives to reform the system without destroying it. These reformers assumed that the system was there to stay, and therefore felt that they had to work within it in order to modernize the South. Consequently, white progressives tried to install a better — meaning more equitable — separate-but-equal system, and elite black reformers focused on ameliorative (rather than confrontational) solutions that would improve the lives of African Americans. The book concentrates on local and state reform efforts throughout the South in areas like schooling, housing, and labor. Many of the reforms made a difference, but they had the ironic impact of generating more demand for social change among blacks. The author is able to show how demands slowly rose over time, and how the system laid the seeds of its own destruction. The reformers' commitment to a system that was less unequal — albeit not truly equal — and more like the North, led to significant policy changes over time. As this book demonstrates, our lack of knowledge about the cumulative policy transformations resulting from the Jim Crow reform impulse, impoverishes our understanding of the Civil Rights revolution. Reforming Jim Crow aims to rectify that.
Hwasook Nam
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781501758263
- eISBN:
- 9781501758287
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501758263.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
This book examines Korean women factory workers' century-long activism, from the 1920s to the present, with a focus on gender politics both in the labor movement and in the larger society. It ...
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This book examines Korean women factory workers' century-long activism, from the 1920s to the present, with a focus on gender politics both in the labor movement and in the larger society. It highlights several key moments in colonial and postcolonial Korean history when factory women commanded the attention of the wider public, including the early-1930s rubber shoe workers' general strike in Pyongyang, the early-1950s textile workers' struggle in South Korea, the 1970s democratic union movement led by female factory workers, and women workers' activism against neoliberal restructuring in recent decades. The book asks why women workers in South Korea have been relegated to the periphery in activist and mainstream narratives despite a century of persistent militant struggle and indisputable contributions to the labor movement and successful democracy movement. The book opens and closes with stories of high-altitude sit-ins — a phenomenon unique to South Korea — beginning with the rubber shoe worker Kang Churyong's sit-in in 1931 and ending with numerous others in today's South Korean labor movement, including that of Kim Jin-Sook. The book seeks to understand and rectify the vast gap between the crucial roles women industrial workers played in the process of Korea's modernization and their relative invisibility as key players in social and historical narratives. By using gender and class as analytical categories, the book presents a comprehensive study and rethinking of the twentieth-century nation-building history of Korea through the lens of female industrial worker activism.Less
This book examines Korean women factory workers' century-long activism, from the 1920s to the present, with a focus on gender politics both in the labor movement and in the larger society. It highlights several key moments in colonial and postcolonial Korean history when factory women commanded the attention of the wider public, including the early-1930s rubber shoe workers' general strike in Pyongyang, the early-1950s textile workers' struggle in South Korea, the 1970s democratic union movement led by female factory workers, and women workers' activism against neoliberal restructuring in recent decades. The book asks why women workers in South Korea have been relegated to the periphery in activist and mainstream narratives despite a century of persistent militant struggle and indisputable contributions to the labor movement and successful democracy movement. The book opens and closes with stories of high-altitude sit-ins — a phenomenon unique to South Korea — beginning with the rubber shoe worker Kang Churyong's sit-in in 1931 and ending with numerous others in today's South Korean labor movement, including that of Kim Jin-Sook. The book seeks to understand and rectify the vast gap between the crucial roles women industrial workers played in the process of Korea's modernization and their relative invisibility as key players in social and historical narratives. By using gender and class as analytical categories, the book presents a comprehensive study and rethinking of the twentieth-century nation-building history of Korea through the lens of female industrial worker activism.
Christopher W. Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226522302
- eISBN:
- 9780226522586
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226522586.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The Sit-Ins tells the story of the student lunch counter protests that swept across the South in 1960 and the national debate they sparked over the meaning of the Constitution’s requirement that all ...
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The Sit-Ins tells the story of the student lunch counter protests that swept across the South in 1960 and the national debate they sparked over the meaning of the Constitution’s requirement that all Americans receive the equal protection of the law. The first book-length study of this iconic episode of the civil rights movement, The Sit-Ins emphasizes the role law played in the emergence and development of the demonstrations. Behind the now-iconic scenes of African American college students sitting in quiet defiance at segregated lunch counters lies a series of underappreciated legal dilemmas—about the meaning of constitutional equality, the capacity of legal institutions to remedy different forms of injustice, and the relationship between legal reform and social change. The students’ actions sparked a debate on the scope of the constitutional meaning of equality that took place in the streets, in newspapers, in the offices of mayors, governors, and businessmen, in the courts, and in Congress. The courts, the traditional focal point for accounts of constitutional disputes, play a central role in this story, but judges were ultimately just one among many groups of influential actors. The great victory of the sit-in movement came not in the Supreme Court, but in Congress, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, landmark legislation that recognized the right African American students had claimed for themselves four years earlier. The Sit-Ins invites a broader understanding of how Americans contest and construct the meaning of their Constitution. Less
The Sit-Ins tells the story of the student lunch counter protests that swept across the South in 1960 and the national debate they sparked over the meaning of the Constitution’s requirement that all Americans receive the equal protection of the law. The first book-length study of this iconic episode of the civil rights movement, The Sit-Ins emphasizes the role law played in the emergence and development of the demonstrations. Behind the now-iconic scenes of African American college students sitting in quiet defiance at segregated lunch counters lies a series of underappreciated legal dilemmas—about the meaning of constitutional equality, the capacity of legal institutions to remedy different forms of injustice, and the relationship between legal reform and social change. The students’ actions sparked a debate on the scope of the constitutional meaning of equality that took place in the streets, in newspapers, in the offices of mayors, governors, and businessmen, in the courts, and in Congress. The courts, the traditional focal point for accounts of constitutional disputes, play a central role in this story, but judges were ultimately just one among many groups of influential actors. The great victory of the sit-in movement came not in the Supreme Court, but in Congress, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, landmark legislation that recognized the right African American students had claimed for themselves four years earlier. The Sit-Ins invites a broader understanding of how Americans contest and construct the meaning of their Constitution.
Christopher W. Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226522302
- eISBN:
- 9780226522586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226522586.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
In its conclusion, the book returns to where it began, with the story of the four students in Greensboro in February 1960 and the remarkable cascade of events their protest set in motion. Key to ...
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In its conclusion, the book returns to where it began, with the story of the four students in Greensboro in February 1960 and the remarkable cascade of events their protest set in motion. Key to understanding how all this happened—how an isolated act of protest turned into a social movement and how this social movement set off a constitutional debate that would transform the nation—requires an appreciation to the distinctive legal issues surrounding the sit-ins. The story of the sit-ins offers a powerful case study of the complex and often unpredictable process of constitutional change in modern America. For each generation of Americans, the challenge is to find new ways to combine social protest and legal claims to disrupt those practices and policies that perpetuate old inequalities and create new ones. The lunch counter sit-in movement shows that it can be done.Less
In its conclusion, the book returns to where it began, with the story of the four students in Greensboro in February 1960 and the remarkable cascade of events their protest set in motion. Key to understanding how all this happened—how an isolated act of protest turned into a social movement and how this social movement set off a constitutional debate that would transform the nation—requires an appreciation to the distinctive legal issues surrounding the sit-ins. The story of the sit-ins offers a powerful case study of the complex and often unpredictable process of constitutional change in modern America. For each generation of Americans, the challenge is to find new ways to combine social protest and legal claims to disrupt those practices and policies that perpetuate old inequalities and create new ones. The lunch counter sit-in movement shows that it can be done.
Johanna Schoen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469621180
- eISBN:
- 9781469623344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469621180.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Social History
Chapter 5 traces the tactics of anti-abortion activists and their impact on the experience of abortion providers and patients. Already in the 1970s, towns tried to prevent the opening of abortion ...
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Chapter 5 traces the tactics of anti-abortion activists and their impact on the experience of abortion providers and patients. Already in the 1970s, towns tried to prevent the opening of abortion clinics through building and zoning regulations. Once clinics had opened, demonstrators in front of abortion clinics, intimidated patients and abortion providers, held prayer vigils and harassed patients and staff through sidewalk counselling. The chapter discusses the history and tactics of sidewalk counselling and Crisis Pregnancy Centers and the attempts of abortion providers to defend themselves against anti-abortion activism. Providers’ ability to endure the harassment and continue their work depended in part on their ability to get help from law enforcement. And African American patients and providers also relied on their experiences as civil rights activists when confronting anti-abortion activists. The chapter focuses on the experiences of clinics in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Fargo, North Dakota, and concludes with a discussion of Operation Rescue tactics in Atlanta and Detroit.Less
Chapter 5 traces the tactics of anti-abortion activists and their impact on the experience of abortion providers and patients. Already in the 1970s, towns tried to prevent the opening of abortion clinics through building and zoning regulations. Once clinics had opened, demonstrators in front of abortion clinics, intimidated patients and abortion providers, held prayer vigils and harassed patients and staff through sidewalk counselling. The chapter discusses the history and tactics of sidewalk counselling and Crisis Pregnancy Centers and the attempts of abortion providers to defend themselves against anti-abortion activism. Providers’ ability to endure the harassment and continue their work depended in part on their ability to get help from law enforcement. And African American patients and providers also relied on their experiences as civil rights activists when confronting anti-abortion activists. The chapter focuses on the experiences of clinics in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Fargo, North Dakota, and concludes with a discussion of Operation Rescue tactics in Atlanta and Detroit.
Elizabeth Abel
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520261174
- eISBN:
- 9780520945869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520261174.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Through carefully scripted and publicized acts of civil disobedience which were staged as a form of political theater, the protest movement finally succeeded in bringing down the Jim Crow signs. This ...
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Through carefully scripted and publicized acts of civil disobedience which were staged as a form of political theater, the protest movement finally succeeded in bringing down the Jim Crow signs. This chapter explores activism and photography in the movie theater of the sit-ins, focusing on the daily confrontations between the white waitresses who instantiated and enforced the color line and the African American students who persisted in challenging it. The standoff was a compelling subject for photojournalists, who sacrificed norms of journalistic objectivity to stand behind the students, literally and figuratively, challenging the social gaze that was funneled through the waitress with the partisan perspective of their cameras. This perspective was not monolithic, however, and diverse visions of the struggle's goals and consequences were rendered through the differential treatment of the male and female protesters. These gendered pictures try out alternative visions of desegregation: one emphasized color blindness, the other the recognition and revaluation of difference.Less
Through carefully scripted and publicized acts of civil disobedience which were staged as a form of political theater, the protest movement finally succeeded in bringing down the Jim Crow signs. This chapter explores activism and photography in the movie theater of the sit-ins, focusing on the daily confrontations between the white waitresses who instantiated and enforced the color line and the African American students who persisted in challenging it. The standoff was a compelling subject for photojournalists, who sacrificed norms of journalistic objectivity to stand behind the students, literally and figuratively, challenging the social gaze that was funneled through the waitress with the partisan perspective of their cameras. This perspective was not monolithic, however, and diverse visions of the struggle's goals and consequences were rendered through the differential treatment of the male and female protesters. These gendered pictures try out alternative visions of desegregation: one emphasized color blindness, the other the recognition and revaluation of difference.
Iwan Morgan and Philip Davies (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041513
- eISBN:
- 9780813043883
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041513.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This book examines the emergence of the student civil rights movement in the sit-in protests of 1960 against the South's system of racial segregation and the development of that movement in the ...
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This book examines the emergence of the student civil rights movement in the sit-in protests of 1960 against the South's system of racial segregation and the development of that movement in the ensuing decade into a broader freedom struggle under the aegis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC]. It is a history not of leaders but of innovative grass roots protest and new organizational development in support of racial equality. It analyzes: the nature, dynamics, and achievements of the sit-in movement; the impact of the sit-ins on both African Americans and Southern segregationists; the internal culture and organizational development of SNCC; and the ideological evolution of this organization from the bi-racial optimism of 1960 to a pessimistic view of America and what it represented. The international influence of a movement that captured the imagination of the world also comes under review in terms of both SNCC's changing attitudes on the Cold War and the development of racial equality protest in other countries, most notably the United Kingdom. Finally, the epilogue considers to what extent the goals of the 1960s student civil rights movement remain unfulfilled at a time when there is an African American in the White House.Less
This book examines the emergence of the student civil rights movement in the sit-in protests of 1960 against the South's system of racial segregation and the development of that movement in the ensuing decade into a broader freedom struggle under the aegis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC]. It is a history not of leaders but of innovative grass roots protest and new organizational development in support of racial equality. It analyzes: the nature, dynamics, and achievements of the sit-in movement; the impact of the sit-ins on both African Americans and Southern segregationists; the internal culture and organizational development of SNCC; and the ideological evolution of this organization from the bi-racial optimism of 1960 to a pessimistic view of America and what it represented. The international influence of a movement that captured the imagination of the world also comes under review in terms of both SNCC's changing attitudes on the Cold War and the development of racial equality protest in other countries, most notably the United Kingdom. Finally, the epilogue considers to what extent the goals of the 1960s student civil rights movement remain unfulfilled at a time when there is an African American in the White House.
Troy R. Saxby
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781469654928
- eISBN:
- 9781469654942
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469654928.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter explores Pauli Murray’s continuing civil rights activism, emerging feminism, and legal training during World War II. Murray joined the Workers Defense League and campaigned to save ...
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This chapter explores Pauli Murray’s continuing civil rights activism, emerging feminism, and legal training during World War II. Murray joined the Workers Defense League and campaigned to save sharecropper Odell Waller from execution. The experience partially inspired Murray to become a lawyer. While studying at Howard University, Murray became conscious of sexism, which she labelled “Jane Crow.” Murray’s mental health, sexual identity, and gender identity all continued to trouble her. She initiated restaurant sit-ins to protest segregation in Washington and reported on the 1943 Harlem race riots for a socialist newspaper. Murray also completed a master’s degree at Berkeley before becoming the first African American Deputy Attorney General of California.Less
This chapter explores Pauli Murray’s continuing civil rights activism, emerging feminism, and legal training during World War II. Murray joined the Workers Defense League and campaigned to save sharecropper Odell Waller from execution. The experience partially inspired Murray to become a lawyer. While studying at Howard University, Murray became conscious of sexism, which she labelled “Jane Crow.” Murray’s mental health, sexual identity, and gender identity all continued to trouble her. She initiated restaurant sit-ins to protest segregation in Washington and reported on the 1943 Harlem race riots for a socialist newspaper. Murray also completed a master’s degree at Berkeley before becoming the first African American Deputy Attorney General of California.
Jon N. Hale
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231175685
- eISBN:
- 9780231541824
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231175685.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The second chapter follows seven students across Mississippi as they came of age and observed iterations of the national civil rights movement as they materialized in their hometowns. Students ...
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The second chapter follows seven students across Mississippi as they came of age and observed iterations of the national civil rights movement as they materialized in their hometowns. Students studied and discussed the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, and other protests that occurred in their home communities while they were growing up, which constituted a form of education that served as an important precursor to the Freedom Schools.Less
The second chapter follows seven students across Mississippi as they came of age and observed iterations of the national civil rights movement as they materialized in their hometowns. Students studied and discussed the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, and other protests that occurred in their home communities while they were growing up, which constituted a form of education that served as an important precursor to the Freedom Schools.
Fred Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041495
- eISBN:
- 9780252050091
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041495.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The alternative black press grew in popularity and editorial stridency in the 1960s, prompting commercial publishers to try to steer the Black Power Movement into acceptable political channels. ...
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The alternative black press grew in popularity and editorial stridency in the 1960s, prompting commercial publishers to try to steer the Black Power Movement into acceptable political channels. Alternative publications included student newspapers, leftist political journals, and organizational newspapers for Black Nationalist groups. TheBlack Panther and Muhammad Speaks claimed circulations that rivaled the largest commercial newspapers. Alternative editors questioned the value of integration, endorsed armed self-defense, and embraced a Marxist critique of American capitalism and empire. Commercial publishers attempted to advise young sit-in protesters and then tried to define Black Power as the effective use of political power. By the late 1960s, though, they almost universally condemned the Black Panther Party and other militant activists, fearing unneeded provocations would erase significant legislative achievements.Less
The alternative black press grew in popularity and editorial stridency in the 1960s, prompting commercial publishers to try to steer the Black Power Movement into acceptable political channels. Alternative publications included student newspapers, leftist political journals, and organizational newspapers for Black Nationalist groups. TheBlack Panther and Muhammad Speaks claimed circulations that rivaled the largest commercial newspapers. Alternative editors questioned the value of integration, endorsed armed self-defense, and embraced a Marxist critique of American capitalism and empire. Commercial publishers attempted to advise young sit-in protesters and then tried to define Black Power as the effective use of political power. By the late 1960s, though, they almost universally condemned the Black Panther Party and other militant activists, fearing unneeded provocations would erase significant legislative achievements.
Peter Charles Hoffer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226614281
- eISBN:
- 9780226614458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226614458.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History
Federal judges facing the avalanche of civil rights cases came to a variety of decisions. Some pressed for immediate progress. Others were willing to countenance delay. The circuit courts of appeals ...
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Federal judges facing the avalanche of civil rights cases came to a variety of decisions. Some pressed for immediate progress. Others were willing to countenance delay. The circuit courts of appeals bench was more consistent and insistent on compliance, led by Elbert Tuttle, John Minor Wisdom, and Richard T. Rives, but in the localities, desegregation went slowly. Cases involving James Meredith in Mississippi showed how judges like Sidney Mize could bring the civil rights litigation to a halt. In collateral attacks on Jim Crow, the desegregation of lunch counters, city buses, and other public facilities showed that community action by men like Martin Luther King, Jr., and women like Rosa Parks could aid litigation and litigation could protect community action. Southern defiance could not stop Congress from passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Less
Federal judges facing the avalanche of civil rights cases came to a variety of decisions. Some pressed for immediate progress. Others were willing to countenance delay. The circuit courts of appeals bench was more consistent and insistent on compliance, led by Elbert Tuttle, John Minor Wisdom, and Richard T. Rives, but in the localities, desegregation went slowly. Cases involving James Meredith in Mississippi showed how judges like Sidney Mize could bring the civil rights litigation to a halt. In collateral attacks on Jim Crow, the desegregation of lunch counters, city buses, and other public facilities showed that community action by men like Martin Luther King, Jr., and women like Rosa Parks could aid litigation and litigation could protect community action. Southern defiance could not stop Congress from passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Brian Purnell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813141824
- eISBN:
- 9780813142609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813141824.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter explores the national resurgence of the Congress of Racial Equality, which coincided with the student-led sit-in movement during the early half of 1960. Specifically, this chapter shows ...
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This chapter explores the national resurgence of the Congress of Racial Equality, which coincided with the student-led sit-in movement during the early half of 1960. Specifically, this chapter shows how a CORE chapter emerged in Brooklyn, New York and it tells of the local people, some who were moderates, and some who were former Communists, who emerged as the chapter’s leaders.Less
This chapter explores the national resurgence of the Congress of Racial Equality, which coincided with the student-led sit-in movement during the early half of 1960. Specifically, this chapter shows how a CORE chapter emerged in Brooklyn, New York and it tells of the local people, some who were moderates, and some who were former Communists, who emerged as the chapter’s leaders.
Brian Purnell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813141824
- eISBN:
- 9780813142609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813141824.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter highlights Brooklyn CORE’s campaign to open up jobs for black workers at the Ebinger Baking Corporation. After a borough-wide boycott and weeks of picketing, a dramatic sit-down strike ...
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This chapter highlights Brooklyn CORE’s campaign to open up jobs for black workers at the Ebinger Baking Corporation. After a borough-wide boycott and weeks of picketing, a dramatic sit-down strike at the company’s main delivery depot finally brought corporate leaders to the negotiating table. Ebinger leaders agreed to a compensatory hiring plan that gave preference to black job applicants.Less
This chapter highlights Brooklyn CORE’s campaign to open up jobs for black workers at the Ebinger Baking Corporation. After a borough-wide boycott and weeks of picketing, a dramatic sit-down strike at the company’s main delivery depot finally brought corporate leaders to the negotiating table. Ebinger leaders agreed to a compensatory hiring plan that gave preference to black job applicants.
John Kirk
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041513
- eISBN:
- 9780813043883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041513.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter by John Kirk explores the convoluted responses by state and federal courts to trespassing charges brought against Little Rock students protesting lunch counter segregation and the ...
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This chapter by John Kirk explores the convoluted responses by state and federal courts to trespassing charges brought against Little Rock students protesting lunch counter segregation and the complicated jurisprudential tensions between civil rights and property rights. While sympathetic to the aims of the sit-ins, the U.S. Supreme Court proved consistently reluctant to rule in their favor over the rights of property owners. It eventually overturned the convictions of the Arkansas students (and over three thousand other sit-in cases) on the basis of the outlawing of public segregation by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, its failure to clearly delineate the role of the state in adjudicating between individual liberties and private property rights had implications that remain unresolved a half-century later.Less
This chapter by John Kirk explores the convoluted responses by state and federal courts to trespassing charges brought against Little Rock students protesting lunch counter segregation and the complicated jurisprudential tensions between civil rights and property rights. While sympathetic to the aims of the sit-ins, the U.S. Supreme Court proved consistently reluctant to rule in their favor over the rights of property owners. It eventually overturned the convictions of the Arkansas students (and over three thousand other sit-in cases) on the basis of the outlawing of public segregation by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, its failure to clearly delineate the role of the state in adjudicating between individual liberties and private property rights had implications that remain unresolved a half-century later.
George Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041513
- eISBN:
- 9780813043883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041513.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter by George Lewis analyses a vital but hitherto neglected aspect of the sit-in movement–its impact on white segregationists. It shows how the student protests posed an array of fundamental ...
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This chapter by George Lewis analyses a vital but hitherto neglected aspect of the sit-in movement–its impact on white segregationists. It shows how the student protests posed an array of fundamental challenges to the central tenets of Jim Crow ideology. The sit-ins thereby undermined some fundamental assumptions of the segregationist credo, notably its conviction that African Americans were content with the regional caste system, and thus created divisions among Southern resisters about how to combat them. As a result the sit-ins altered the fundamental balance of power in the freedom struggle, not only through their reinvigoration of nonviolent protest but also by wresting the tactical and intellectual initiative from those seeking to preserve segregation.Less
This chapter by George Lewis analyses a vital but hitherto neglected aspect of the sit-in movement–its impact on white segregationists. It shows how the student protests posed an array of fundamental challenges to the central tenets of Jim Crow ideology. The sit-ins thereby undermined some fundamental assumptions of the segregationist credo, notably its conviction that African Americans were content with the regional caste system, and thus created divisions among Southern resisters about how to combat them. As a result the sit-ins altered the fundamental balance of power in the freedom struggle, not only through their reinvigoration of nonviolent protest but also by wresting the tactical and intellectual initiative from those seeking to preserve segregation.
Clive Webb
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041513
- eISBN:
- 9780813043883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041513.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter by Clive Webb continues the exploration of the impact that the student sit-ins had on segregationists. It acknowledges the importance of the protests in demonstrating to white defenders ...
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This chapter by Clive Webb continues the exploration of the impact that the student sit-ins had on segregationists. It acknowledges the importance of the protests in demonstrating to white defenders of Jim Crow the depth of black anger with this system and the consequent segregationist resort to defense of property rights rather than racist doctrine to legitimize their continued resistance to racial change. It also moves beyond monolithic interpretations of Southern white reaction to show that this spanned the entire spectrum from confrontation to cooperation. It also considers some neglected influences on white response to the protests--notably international politics and Christian theology--and examines how segregationist politicians in the U.S. Congress incorporated a critique of the sit-ins into their opposition to enactment of federal civil rights legislation.Less
This chapter by Clive Webb continues the exploration of the impact that the student sit-ins had on segregationists. It acknowledges the importance of the protests in demonstrating to white defenders of Jim Crow the depth of black anger with this system and the consequent segregationist resort to defense of property rights rather than racist doctrine to legitimize their continued resistance to racial change. It also moves beyond monolithic interpretations of Southern white reaction to show that this spanned the entire spectrum from confrontation to cooperation. It also considers some neglected influences on white response to the protests--notably international politics and Christian theology--and examines how segregationist politicians in the U.S. Congress incorporated a critique of the sit-ins into their opposition to enactment of federal civil rights legislation.
Simon Hall
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041513
- eISBN:
- 9780813043883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041513.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter by Simon Hall examines another element of SNCC's intellectual transformation. While segregationists routinely denounced the outburst of student sit-in protest in 1960 as the work of ...
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This chapter by Simon Hall examines another element of SNCC's intellectual transformation. While segregationists routinely denounced the outburst of student sit-in protest in 1960 as the work of communists, civil rights activists were assiduous in linking their demonstrations to the international struggle between the free world and the forces of totalitarian ideology. This chapter traces the use of Cold War patriotism by early student protestors and SNCC and its eventual replacement with a more critical internationalism that emphasized global solidarity among non-white peoples and condemned U.S. foreign policy as racist, expansionist, and imperialistic. It concludes, however, that the new ascendancy of this perspective, which had always been present within SNCC, had a damaging effect on the organization's capacity to attract wider public and political support.Less
This chapter by Simon Hall examines another element of SNCC's intellectual transformation. While segregationists routinely denounced the outburst of student sit-in protest in 1960 as the work of communists, civil rights activists were assiduous in linking their demonstrations to the international struggle between the free world and the forces of totalitarian ideology. This chapter traces the use of Cold War patriotism by early student protestors and SNCC and its eventual replacement with a more critical internationalism that emphasized global solidarity among non-white peoples and condemned U.S. foreign policy as racist, expansionist, and imperialistic. It concludes, however, that the new ascendancy of this perspective, which had always been present within SNCC, had a damaging effect on the organization's capacity to attract wider public and political support.
Stephen Tuck
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041513
- eISBN:
- 9780813043883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041513.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Further examining global aspects of the freedom struggle, this chapter by Stephen Tuck argues that the local/national struggles for racial equality in America and Britain can only be fully understood ...
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Further examining global aspects of the freedom struggle, this chapter by Stephen Tuck argues that the local/national struggles for racial equality in America and Britain can only be fully understood in their international context. The relationship between civil rights activists in both countries was particularly close in the 1960s and triangulated with developments in Africa and the Caribbean. The sit-ins became a favored tactic of British anti-racist activism, but never won big headlines because Jim Crow-style segregation was not deeply embedded in the U.K. Meanwhile American campaigners for racial equality followed events in Britain, which were more analogous than postcolonial Africa's to their own situation. In providing a cautionary tale of the socioeconomic discrimination and anti-immigration sentiment that a black minority experienced in a liberal democracy, U.K. developments helped to inform SNCC's eventual call for Black Power as its official position.Less
Further examining global aspects of the freedom struggle, this chapter by Stephen Tuck argues that the local/national struggles for racial equality in America and Britain can only be fully understood in their international context. The relationship between civil rights activists in both countries was particularly close in the 1960s and triangulated with developments in Africa and the Caribbean. The sit-ins became a favored tactic of British anti-racist activism, but never won big headlines because Jim Crow-style segregation was not deeply embedded in the U.K. Meanwhile American campaigners for racial equality followed events in Britain, which were more analogous than postcolonial Africa's to their own situation. In providing a cautionary tale of the socioeconomic discrimination and anti-immigration sentiment that a black minority experienced in a liberal democracy, U.K. developments helped to inform SNCC's eventual call for Black Power as its official position.
Christopher W. Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226522302
- eISBN:
- 9780226522586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226522586.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The book begins with the four African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at the “whites only” lunch counter of the Greensboro Woolworth store and asked to be served. Their ...
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The book begins with the four African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at the “whites only” lunch counter of the Greensboro Woolworth store and asked to be served. Their actions set in motion a remarkable chain of events that inspired thousands of black students to join a lunch counter sit-in movement that exploded across the South in the following weeks and months. The Sit-ins draws attention to legal issues that other scholars have too often overlooked. A full account of the sit-in movement requires a recognition of the ways that ordinary citizens with little knowledge or interest in the intricacies of constitutional doctrine were nonetheless moved by their assumptions about what the law required, what it allowed, and what it prohibited. It also requires attention to the nuances of equal protection doctrine as it stood in the early 1960s, for this was the terrain on which lawyers and judges struggled to make sense of the students’ defiant challenge to the racial status quo. The sit-in protests offer a rich case study to examine the ways in which constitutional claims took shape and were transformed as they moved into and through the legal system.Less
The book begins with the four African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at the “whites only” lunch counter of the Greensboro Woolworth store and asked to be served. Their actions set in motion a remarkable chain of events that inspired thousands of black students to join a lunch counter sit-in movement that exploded across the South in the following weeks and months. The Sit-ins draws attention to legal issues that other scholars have too often overlooked. A full account of the sit-in movement requires a recognition of the ways that ordinary citizens with little knowledge or interest in the intricacies of constitutional doctrine were nonetheless moved by their assumptions about what the law required, what it allowed, and what it prohibited. It also requires attention to the nuances of equal protection doctrine as it stood in the early 1960s, for this was the terrain on which lawyers and judges struggled to make sense of the students’ defiant challenge to the racial status quo. The sit-in protests offer a rich case study to examine the ways in which constitutional claims took shape and were transformed as they moved into and through the legal system.
Christopher W. Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226522302
- eISBN:
- 9780226522586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226522586.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter centers on the African American students who took part in the lunch counter sit-in movement in the winter and spring of 1960. It explores the distinctive vision of civil rights around ...
More
This chapter centers on the African American students who took part in the lunch counter sit-in movement in the winter and spring of 1960. It explores the distinctive vision of civil rights around which this new generation of activists mobilized. The students saw the sit-ins as an effort to break away from the litigation and lobbying tactics that defined traditional civil rights activity at the time. They targeted a realm of racial discrimination—privately owned public accommodations—that, for reasons of strategy and law, established organizations had largely avoided. Their protest-centered approach could produce immediate, tangible results, which was a critical ingredient for movement mobilization. The students even discovered value in punishment. When thrown in jail on charges of trespass or disorderly conduct, many refused bail; when convicted they often chose to serve a jail sentence rather than pay a fine. The students transformed the legal system from a tool of redress to a platform to amplify their claim that racial discrimination in this realm of life was an affront to human dignity and a violation of their most basic rights as citizens.Less
This chapter centers on the African American students who took part in the lunch counter sit-in movement in the winter and spring of 1960. It explores the distinctive vision of civil rights around which this new generation of activists mobilized. The students saw the sit-ins as an effort to break away from the litigation and lobbying tactics that defined traditional civil rights activity at the time. They targeted a realm of racial discrimination—privately owned public accommodations—that, for reasons of strategy and law, established organizations had largely avoided. Their protest-centered approach could produce immediate, tangible results, which was a critical ingredient for movement mobilization. The students even discovered value in punishment. When thrown in jail on charges of trespass or disorderly conduct, many refused bail; when convicted they often chose to serve a jail sentence rather than pay a fine. The students transformed the legal system from a tool of redress to a platform to amplify their claim that racial discrimination in this realm of life was an affront to human dignity and a violation of their most basic rights as citizens.