The Sit-Ins

The Sit-Ins PDF Author: Christopher W. Schmidt
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022652258X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students entered the Woolworth department store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sat down at the lunch counter. This lunch counter, like most in the American South, refused to serve black customers. The four students remained in their seats until the store closed. In the following days, they returned, joined by growing numbers of fellow students. These “sit-in” demonstrations soon spread to other southern cities, drawing in thousands of students and coalescing into a protest movement that would transform the struggle for racial equality. The Sit-Ins tells the story of the student lunch counter protests and the national debate they sparked over the meaning of the constitutional right of all Americans to equal protection of the law. Christopher W. Schmidt describes how behind the now-iconic scenes of African American college students sitting in quiet defiance at “whites only” lunch counters lies a series of underappreciated legal dilemmas—about the meaning of the Constitution, the capacity of legal institutions to remedy different forms of injustice, and the relationship between legal reform and social change. The students’ actions initiated a national conversation over whether the Constitution’s equal protection clause extended to the activities of private businesses that served the general public. The courts, the traditional focal point for accounts of constitutional disputes, played an important but ultimately secondary role in this story. 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.

The Sit-Ins

The Sit-Ins PDF Author: Christopher W. Schmidt
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022652258X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book

Book Description
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students entered the Woolworth department store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sat down at the lunch counter. This lunch counter, like most in the American South, refused to serve black customers. The four students remained in their seats until the store closed. In the following days, they returned, joined by growing numbers of fellow students. These “sit-in” demonstrations soon spread to other southern cities, drawing in thousands of students and coalescing into a protest movement that would transform the struggle for racial equality. The Sit-Ins tells the story of the student lunch counter protests and the national debate they sparked over the meaning of the constitutional right of all Americans to equal protection of the law. Christopher W. Schmidt describes how behind the now-iconic scenes of African American college students sitting in quiet defiance at “whites only” lunch counters lies a series of underappreciated legal dilemmas—about the meaning of the Constitution, the capacity of legal institutions to remedy different forms of injustice, and the relationship between legal reform and social change. The students’ actions initiated a national conversation over whether the Constitution’s equal protection clause extended to the activities of private businesses that served the general public. The courts, the traditional focal point for accounts of constitutional disputes, played an important but ultimately secondary role in this story. 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.

From Sit-Ins to SNCC

From Sit-Ins to SNCC PDF Author: Iwan Morgan
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813043646
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
In the wake of the fiftieth anniversary of the historic sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter by four North Carolina A&T college students, From Sit-Ins to SNCC brings together the work of leading civil rights scholars to offer a new and groundbreaking perspective on student-oriented activism in the 1960s. The eight substantive essays in this collection not only delineate the role of SNCC over the course of the struggle for African American civil rights but also offer an updated perspective on the development and impact of the sit-in movement in light of newly released papers from the estate of Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI, and MI-5. The contributors provide novel analyses of such topics as the dynamics of grassroots student civil rights activism, the organizational and cultural changes within SNCC, the impact of the sit-ins on the white South, the evolution of black nationalist ideology within the student movement, works of the fiction written by movement activists, and the changing international outlook of student-organized civil rights movements.

Like Wildfire

Like Wildfire PDF Author: Sean Patrick O'Rourke
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1643360833
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
The sit-ins of the American civil rights movement were extraordinary acts of dissent in an age marked by protest. By sitting in at "whites only" lunch counters, libraries, beaches, swimming pools, skating rinks, and churches, young African Americans and their allies put their lives on the line, fully aware that their actions would almost inevitably incite hateful, violent responses from entrenched and increasingly desperate white segregationists. And yet they did so in great numbers: most estimates suggest that in 1960 alone more than seventy thousand young people participated in sit-ins across the American South and more than three thousand were arrested. The simplicity and purity of the act of sitting in, coupled with the dignity and grace exhibited by participants, lent to the sit-in movement's sanctity and peaceful power. In Like Wildfire, editors Sean Patrick O'Rourke and Lesli K. Pace seek to clarify and analyze the power of civil rights sit-ins as rhetorical acts—persuasive campaigns designed to alter perceptions of apartheid social structures and to change the attitudes, laws, and policies that supported those structures. These cohesive essays from leading scholars offer a new appraisal of the origins, growth, and legacy of the sit-ins, which has gone largely ignored in scholarly literature. The authors examine different forms of sitting-in and the evolution of the rhetorical dynamics of sit-in protests, detailing the organizational strategies they employed and connecting them to later protests. By focusing on the persuasive power of demanding space, the contributors articulate the ways in which the protestors' battle for basic civil rights shaped social practices, laws, and the national dialogue. O'Rourke and Pace maintain that the legacies of the civil rights sit-ins have been many, complicated, and at times undervalued.

On Fire

On Fire PDF Author: Sean Patrick O'Rourke
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1643361627
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
The social, political, and legal struggles that made up the American civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century produced and refined a wide range of rhetorical strategies and tactics. Arguably the most astonishing and certainly the least understood are the sit-in protests that swept the nation at the beginning of the 1960s. A companion to Like Wildfire: The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Sit-Ins, this concentrated collection of essays examines the origins and rhetorical methods of five distinct civil rights sit-ins of 1960. For students of rhetoric, protest, and sociopolitical movements, this volume demonstrates how we can read the sit-ins by using diverse rhetorical lenses as essentially persuasive conflicts in which participants invented and deployed arguments and actions in attempts to change segregated communities and the attitudes, traditions, and policies that maintained segregation.

Sit-In

Sit-In PDF Author: Andrea Pinkney
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316086657
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 53

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Book Description
It was February 1, 1960. They didn't need menus. Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee, with cream on the side. This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement. Andrea Davis Pinkney uses poetic, powerful prose to tell the story of these four young men, who followed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of peaceful protest and dared to sit at the "whites only" Woolworth's lunch counter. Brian Pinkney embraces a new artistic style, creating expressive paintings filled with emotion that mirror the hope, strength, and determination that fueled the dreams of not only these four young men, but also countless others.

Civil Rights Sit-ins

Civil Rights Sit-ins PDF Author: Duchess Harris
Publisher: Core Library
ISBN: 9781532113963
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The civil rights sit-ins sparked the larger civil rights movement, inspiring many people to protest racial inequality. Civil Rights Sit-Ins discusses how the United States' history of slavery and segregation led people to make a change, how the sit-ins began to make businesses available to all, and how the protests changed the laws of a nation. Easy-to-read text, vivid images, and helpful back matter give readers a clear look at this subject. Features include a table of contents, infographics, a glossary, additional resources, and an index. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Core Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.

Sitting for Equal Service

Sitting for Equal Service PDF Author: Melody Herr
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
ISBN: 0761363564
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
"We were hoping [the sit-in] would catch on and it would spread throughout the country, but it went even beyond our wildest imagination."―Ezell Blair Jr., North Carolina Agricultural & Technical college student On February 1, 1960, four black college students sat down at the whites-only lunch counter in a Woolworth's department store in Greensboro, North Carolina. The young men knew the waitress couldn't take their order because of the store's segregationist policies. But the young men hadn't come to eat―they had come to make a peaceful stand for equality. At this time in the southern United States, a long-standing tradition of segregation prohibited blacks from sharing public spaces―schools, swimming pools, hotels, waiting rooms, bathrooms, and restaurants―with whites. The Greensboro students were inspired by previous sit-in protests, and they decided to sit at the lunch counter day after day, refusing to leave until they received service. In this story of individual courage and determination, we'll see how the Greensboro sit-in ignited the fight for African American civil rights among thousands of fellow students―both black and white―and triggered sit-ins at segregated lunch counters throughout the South. We'll also learn how the sit-in spurred other group protests, such as the Freedom Rides, and how the protestors' efforts eventually led to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, forbidding segregation in public facilities across the nation.

Civilities and Civil Rights

Civilities and Civil Rights PDF Author: William H. Chafe
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195029192
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The 'sit-ins' at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro launched the passive resistance phase of the civil rights revolution. This book tells the story of what happened in Greensboro; it also tells the story in microcosm of America's effort to come to grips with our most abiding national dilemma--racism.

The Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee

The Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee PDF Author: Bobby L. Lovett
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN: 9781572334434
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
The strange career of Jim Crow : the early civil rights movement in Tennessee, 1935-1950 -- We are not afraid! : Brown and Jim Crow schools in Tennessee -- Hell no, we won't integrate : continuing school desegregation in Tennessee -- Keep Memphis down in Dixie : sit-in demonstrations and desegregation of public facilities -- Let nobody turn me around : sit-ins and public demonstrations continue to spread -- The King God didn't save : the movement turns violent in Tennessee -- The Black Republicans : civil rights and politics in Tennessee -- The Black Democrats : civil rights and politics in Tennessee -- The frustrated fellowship : civil rights and African American politics in Tennessee -- Make Tennessee state equivalent to UT for white students : desegregation of higher education -- After Geier and the merger : desegregation of higher education in Tennessee continues -- Don't you wish you were white? : the conclusion.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Encyclopedia

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Encyclopedia PDF Author: Clayborne Carson
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
Aphabetially arranged entries about the life and works of Martin Luther King, Jr. cover his relationships with other African American leaders, relatives, and associates, his theological and political influences, and his political allies and opponents, aswell as major events in his life.