On February 3, 1960, Atlanta University Center (AUC) senior, Lonnie King, read about the four young boys that started the sit-in at the Woolworth Store in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina[3] on February 1.[4]
This first sit-in caused emotional fortitude and physical restraint, captured by the lenses of reporters, exposed a new generation of young adults to nonviolent direct activism.[4] The first thing that came to King's mind was panty-raids and how quickly these raids could spread from one college to another. King believed that the panty-raid theory should be applied to the Civil Rights Movement because racial segregation was ubiquitous.[5]Segregation was a problem that existed all over the US south, not just in Greensboro. King conferred with Joseph Pierce and Julian Bond about organizing a student movement in the Atlanta University Center.[3][5] The three were dissatisfied with Atlanta’s slow pace for change in segregation and decided to act.[6]
Inspired, like other college students attending historically black colleges across the United States, Atlanta University Center (AUC) students mobilized to launch a series of demonstrations to end legalized segregation in public facilities and on February 5, 1960, approximately fifteen students attended the first meeting of prospective movement participants.[7][3][4] The group attempted their first sit-in on Lincoln's birthday; however, they were unable to obtain a sufficient number of students to participate. Word of the Atlanta Student Movement began to travel fast and Lonnie King, Julian Bond, and others were summoned to appear before a special meeting of Atlanta University Center's Council of Presidents. The presidents spoke in turn, expressing their opinions of the proposed sit-in movement. Dr. Clement, president of Atlanta University spoke first. He was followed by Dr. Mays of Morehouse, Dr. Manley of Spelman, and Dr. Brawley of Clark. The four presidents discouraged students from participating in the movement, instead focusing on their classwork.[6][3][5] They believed in pursuing a legal strategy, letting the NAACP fight the racial battle. The fifth speaker was Dr. Harry V. Richardson of ITC. He stated, "I think that the kids are right. I have a Ph.D.; I head a major college, and I cannot go downtown except to spend my money."[5] Dr. Frank Cunningham of Morris Brown College was the last to speak and he strongly supported Dr. Richardson’s opinion about the student movement that was developing in the South. Dr. Clement, chairman of the Council, was caught off-guard by the latter comments, and asked who would speak on behalf of the students. Lonnie King was selected by his peers to speak and argued that it was time for the Negro community to come together and end segregation in Atlanta.[3][5] Following King's speech, Dr. Clement suggested the students announce their position through a manifesto to the Atlanta Community before undertaking organized protests.[6][3]
On March 16, 1960, the representatives from the six affiliated institutions of Atlanta University Center met to form the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights (COHAR).[3] A unanimous decision was made that there should be three members from each affiliate institution on the committee. Lonnie King was elected Chairman of the original committee, John Mack from Atlanta University was elected Co-Chairman, Benjamin Brown was elected Treasurer, and Mary Ann Smith was elected Secretary. The representatives of the respective institutions were: Atlanta University: John Mack, Johnny Parham, and Willie Mays; Clark: James Felder, Benjamin Brown and Lydia Tucker; Morehouse: Donald Clarke, Albert Brinson, and Julian Bond; Morris Brown: William Hickson, MaryAnn Smith, Robert Schley; ITC: Otis Moss, James Wilborn, Marion Bennett; Spelman: Marian Wright, Josephine Jackson, Roslyn Pope.[3]
On March 15, 1960, just six days after the publication of An Appeal for Human Rights, over two hundred Atlanta University Center students sat in at eleven restaurants in downtown Atlanta.[9] Seventy-seven students were arrested for sitting-in, along with the six students who had signed An Appeal for Human Rights.[6] The sit-ins were used to obtain a “test-case” for prosecution by NAACP lawyers.[5]
In August 1960, Lonnie King asked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (no relation) to accompany the students in a voluntary arrest planned for October.[3] The reason for this request was that the issue of Civil Rights was not a topic of discussion in the presidential election of 1960 between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Both candidates were ignoring the more than 70,000 Negro college students in the South who were acting to defy segregation laws and demand freedom. However, the arrest of Dr. King would gain enough traction to put the sit-in movement on the agenda of the presidential campaign.
On October 19, 1960, hundreds of students, led by Lonnie King and the new COAHR co-chair, Herschelle Sullivan, and accompanied by Dr. King, staged sit-ins throughout Atlanta with a large number of arrests.[3] The arrested students vowed: “Jail no bail.”[3] As a result of Dr. King's arrest, the protests increased in size the following day. Three days after the initial protest, at the request of Mayor William B. Hartsfield, who was attempting to arrange a settlement between the students and merchants, COAHR called for a pause in the protests. As a result of the truce, the students who had been arrested were released from jail.[6][3]
Over the next four months, Lonnie King and the students continued to protest unabatedly. Protestors who were arrested would refuse bail, to crowd the jails.[6] Downtown Atlanta white establishments lost over $10 million due to the Christmas Boycotts carried out by the Negro Community. With the Christmas Boycott success, Lonnie King announced an extension of the boycott to run through Easter on February 1, 1961.[3]
On March 6, 1961, Jesse Hill requested Lonnie King and Sullivan, to attend an urgent meeting at the Chamber of Commerce.[3][10][11] Power members of the white and black community were in attendance to call off the boycott on a gentleman’s agreement to desegregate after the school system peacefully desegregates in the fall of 1961.[6][3][5] The student leaders refused this agreement, as they wanted to keep fighting for equality. However, black leaders, including Martin Luther King Sr. and major NAACP leader, John Calhoun, insisted on the agreement because they have lived every day of their lives segregated and the white leaders are willing to sign an agreement to desegregate. The back leaders have waited their whole lives for this moment and would be willing to wait three to four months for desegregation.[5] King and Sullivan felt betrayed by their elders in the black community but ultimately consented to the settlement.[6]
In the wake of the settlement, students and members of the Negro community expressed their dissatisfaction with the community’s elder black leadership decision to postpone desegregation.[6] On March 10, 1961, a mass meeting was held at Warren Memorial with over 2000 people in attendance. Elder black leaders, including A.T. Walden, Martin Luther King Sr., and William Holmes Borders attempted to lecture the hostile audience about the thought process behind the decision that was made on March 6.[5] The crowd began to turn into an angry mob and Lonnie King immediately called Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to come to speak to the audience. Martin Luther King Jr. entered and would orate one of the greatest speeches he had ever given. Dr. King Jr. implored audience members to “resist the cancerous disease of disunity.”[6] He stated, “If anyone breaks this contract, let it be the white man.”[6]
Achievements
The Atlanta Student Movement greatly impacted both racial tensions not only in Atlanta, but nationally. According to Bond, the sit-ins saw 'black property owners put up a bond which probably amounted to $100,000" to get sit-in demonstrators released from jail'.[12] The sit-ins also helped to engage American youth, bringing a younger generation of leaders to the fore and [generating] intense press coverage".[13] In mainstream news, an ABC program showed Atlanta "as the city where, in the programs title, 'It Can Be Done', referring to the city's reputation for inter-racial cooperation".[13]
Overall, the "disruption caused by sit-ins" organized by the Atlanta Student Movement "inspired the effort to desegregate peacefully",[14] as well as aiding in creating "a political crisis for candidates during the presidential election campaign".[15]
Legacy
The original work on An Appeal for Human Rights begun by members of the Atlanta Student Movement continues into the present, with periodic reviews in 2000, and 2010. These include the 40th Anniversary An Appeal for Human Rights v.II,[16][17] 2010 - An Appeal for Human Rights vIII) by means of a review, reflection, and revision process by original members of COAHR.[18][19]
Along with the lasting social effects that the Movement brought about, a more tangible legacy can be found near the West End of Atlanta, where Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard (formerly Fair Street) cuts through the campus of Clark Atlanta University. The street was named as such in a dedication ceremony on November 1, 2010, hosted by Kasim Reed, the Mayor of Atlanta.[20]
New Appeal for Human Rights
On May 16, 2017, 'A New Appeal for Human Rights' was released.[21] Echoing the sentiments of the 1960s Appeal for Human Rights, the document highlights the importance of recognizing 'human rights as universal and inalienable, as well as indivisible and interdependent'.[21]
Dr Lonnie King, Chairman of the Atlanta Student Movement of 1960-1961 said that the document 'clearly illustrates that the quest for a 'just' society continues to this day'.[22]
↑ Lefever, Harry G. (2005). Undaunted by the Fight: Spelman College and the Civil Rights Movement, 1957/1967. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press. p.41. ISBN9780865549388.
↑ Morris, Aldon (December 1981). "Black Southern Student Sit-in Movement: An Analysis of Internal Organization". American Sociological Review. 46 (6): 762. doi:10.2307/2095077. JSTOR2095077.
1 2 Nasstrom, Kathryn (April 1999). "Down to Now: Memory, Narrative, and Women's Leadership in the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta, Georgia". Gender & History. 11: 113–144. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.00131. S2CID144109804.
↑ Bayor, Ronald H. (Summer 1993). "The Civil Rights Movement as Urban Reform: Atlanta's Black Neighborhoods and a New "Progressivism"". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 77: 293.
↑ Lawson, Steven (April 1991). "Freedom Then, Freedom Now: The Historiography of the Civil Rights Movement". The American Historical Review. 96 (2): 465. doi:10.2307/2163219. JSTOR2163219.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., who had a large role in the American civil rights movement.
The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store — now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum — in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the F. W. Woolworth Company department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. While not the first sit-in of the civil rights movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, and also the best-known sit-ins of the civil rights movement. They are considered a catalyst to the subsequent sit-in movement, in which 70,000 people participated. This sit-in was a contributing factor in the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a protest to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The sit-in campaign, coordinated by the Nashville Student Movement and the Nashville Christian Leadership Council, was notable for its early success and its emphasis on disciplined nonviolence. It was part of a broader sit-in movement that spread across the southern United States in the wake of the Greensboro sit-ins in North Carolina.
The Albany Movement was a desegregation and voters' rights coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, in November 1961. This movement was founded by local black leaders and ministers, as well as members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The groups were assisted by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). It was meant to draw attention to the brutally enforced racial segregation practices in Southwest Georgia. However, many leaders in SNCC were fundamentally opposed to King and the SCLC's involvement. They felt that a more democratic approach aimed at long-term solutions was preferable for the area other than King's tendency towards short-term, authoritatively-run organizing.
Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from its earliest days in 1960 until her death in October 1967. She served the organization as an activist in the field and as an administrator in the Atlanta central office. She eventually succeeded James Forman as SNCC's executive secretary and was the only woman ever to serve in this capacity. She was well respected by her SNCC colleagues and others within the movement for her work ethic and dedication to those around her. SNCC Freedom Singer Matthew Jones recalled, "You could feel her power in SNCC on a daily basis". Jack Minnis, director of SNCC's opposition research unit, insisted that people could not fool her. Over the course of her life, she served 100 days in prison for the movement.
Douglas E. Moore was a Methodist minister who organized the 1957 Royal Ice Cream Sit-in in Durham, North Carolina. Moore entered the ministry at a young age. After finding himself dissatisfied with what he perceived as a lack of action among his divinity peers, he decided to take a more activist course. Shortly after becoming a pastor in Durham, Moore decided to challenge the city's power structure via the Royal Ice Cream Sit-in, a protest in which he and several others sat down in the white section of an ice cream parlor and asked to be served. The sit-in failed to challenge segregation in the short run, and Moore's actions provoked a myriad of negative reactions from many white and African-American leaders, who considered his efforts far too radical. Nevertheless, Moore continued to press forward with his agenda of activism.
Clara Shepard Luper was a civic leader, schoolteacher, and pioneering leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. She is best known for her leadership role in the 1958 Oklahoma City sit-in movement, as she, her young son and daughter, and numerous young members of the NAACP Youth Council successfully conducted carefully planned nonviolent sit-in protests of downtown drugstore lunch-counters, which overturned their policies of segregation. The success of this sit-in would result in Luper becoming a leader of various sit-ins throughout Oklahoma City between 1958 and 1964. The Clara Luper Corridor is a streetscape and civic beautification project from the Oklahoma Capitol area east to northeast Oklahoma City. In 1972, Clara Luper was an Oklahoma candidate for election to the United States Senate. When asked by the press if she, a black woman, could represent white people, she responded: “Of course, I can represent white people, black people, red people, yellow people, brown people, and polka dot people. You see, I have lived long enough to know that people are people.”
The Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR) was a group of Atlanta University Center students formed in February 1960. The committee drafted and published An Appeal for Human Rights on March 9, 1960. Six days after publication of the document, students in Atlanta united to start the Atlanta Student Movement and initiated the Atlanta sit-ins in order to demand racial desegregation as part of the Civil Rights Movement. Early members of the group include, among others, Lonnie King, Julian Bond, Herschelle Sullivan, Carolyn Long, Joseph Pierce.
An Appeal for Human Rights is a civil rights manifesto initially printed as an advertisement in Atlanta newspapers on March 9, 1960 that called for ending racial inequality in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The manifesto was written by students of Atlanta's six historically black colleges and universities that comprise the Atlanta University Center. It was drafted by Roslyn Pope and other students of the Atlanta University Center after the students, led by Lonnie King and Julian Bond, were encouraged by the six presidents of the Atlanta University Center to draft a document stating their goals. The students, organized as the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR), published An Appeal for Human Rights working within and as part of the Civil Rights Movement.
Lonnie C. King Jr. was an American civil rights leader. Beginning in 1960, he launched the Atlanta Student Movement, wrote the Appeal for Human Rights, and subsequently started the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights. His work led to the desegregation of Atlanta and continued advocacy has brought further education to America regarding present-day racism and the struggles of the civil rights movement.
The Royal Ice Cream sit-in was a nonviolent protest in Durham, North Carolina, that led to a court case on the legality of segregated facilities. The demonstration took place on June 23, 1957 when a group of African American protesters, led by Reverend Douglas E. Moore, entered the Royal Ice Cream Parlor and sat in the section reserved for white patrons. When asked to move, the protesters refused and were arrested for trespassing. The case was appealed unsuccessfully to the County and State Superior Courts.
The history of the 1954 to 1968 American civil rights movement has been depicted and documented in film, song, theater, television, and the visual arts. These presentations add to and maintain cultural awareness and understanding of the goals, tactics, and accomplishments of the people who organized and participated in this nonviolent movement.
This is a timeline of the civil rights movement in the United States, a nonviolent mid-20th century freedom movement to gain legal equality and the enforcement of constitutional rights for people of color. The goals of the movement included securing equal protection under the law, ending legally institutionalized racial discrimination, and gaining equal access to public facilities, education reform, fair housing, and the ability to vote.
Samuel Woodrow Williams was a Baptist minister, professor of philosophy and religion, and Civil Rights activist. Williams was born on February 12, 1912, in Sparkman then grew up in Chicot County, Arkansas. An African American, Williams attended Morehouse College where he received his bachelor's degree in philosophy and later attended Howard University earning his master's degree in divinity.
The sit-in movement, sit-in campaign, or student sit-in movement, was a wave of sit-ins that followed the Greensboro sit-ins on February 1, 1960, led by students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical Institute (A&T). The sit-in movement employed the tactic of nonviolent direct action and was a pivotal event during the Civil Rights Movement.
Civil rights in the United States include noted legislation and organized efforts to abolish public and private acts of racial discrimination against Native Americans, African Americans, Asians, Latin Americans, women, the homeless, minority religions, and other groups. The history of the United States has been marked by a continuous struggle for civil rights. The institution of slavery, established during the colonial era, persisted until the American Civil War, when the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment abolished it. Despite this, African Americans continued to face systemic racism through de jure and de facto segregation, enforced by Jim Crow laws and societal practices. Early civil rights efforts, such as those by Frederick Douglass and the women's suffrage movement, laid the groundwork for future activism.
The Atlanta Inquirer was founded on July 31, 1960 by Jesse Hill, Herman J. Russell, and various students of the Atlanta Student Movement including Julian Bond, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Lonnie King, and many other students in the Atlanta University Center. It was the second black newspaper published in Atlanta. M. Carl Holman, a professor at Clark College, became the editor of the newspaper after the first issue, which had been edited by Bill Strong. The paper was a radical response to the conservative Atlanta Daily World which was the first black newspaper in Atlanta.The Inquirer reported on black leadership in the civil rights movement in Atlanta. After being bought by the family of a longtime employee of the paper, John B. Smith Sr., he became the publisher, editor, and chief executive officer of the newspaper until his death in 2017. The Atlanta Inquirer is also a member of the National Newspaper Association where John B. Smith Sr. was the chairman.
Herchelle Sullivan Challenor is a foreign policy expert, international civil servant, university administrator, and was one of the key activists in the Atlanta Student Movement, part of the Civil Rights Movement, of the early 1960s.
Prior to the civil rights movement in South Carolina, African Americans in the state had very few political rights. South Carolina briefly had a majority-black government during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War, but with the 1876 inauguration of Governor Wade Hampton III, a Democrat who supported the disenfranchisement of blacks, African Americans in South Carolina struggled to exercise their rights. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation kept African Americans from voting, and it was virtually impossible for someone to challenge the Democratic Party, which ran unopposed in most state elections for decades. By 1940, the voter registration provisions written into the 1895 constitution effectively limited African-American voters to 3,000—only 0.8 percent of those of voting age in the state.
The Atlanta sit-ins were a series of sit-ins that took place in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Occurring during the sit-in movement of the larger civil rights movement, the sit-ins were organized by the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights, which consisted of students from the Atlanta University Center. The sit-ins were inspired by the Greensboro sit-ins, which had started a month earlier in Greensboro, North Carolina with the goal of desegregating the lunch counters in the city. The Atlanta protests lasted for almost a year before an agreement was made to desegregate the lunch counters in the city.
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