Sunday, July 8, 2012

How did the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee change the emphasis of the Civil Rights Movement?

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) went through two phases. The first was its direction under the leadership of Robert "Bob" Moses who, as field secretary, led efforts to enfranchise black people in Mississippi. In this phase, from 1960-1964, the emphasis was on resisting state efforts to deprive black people of their right to vote, to help increase literacy in the state, and to ensure that black people in the state understood their rights. Moses was also instrumental in organizing the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party which, with the participation of Fannie Lou Hamer, took the floor at the Democratic National Convention in 1964 to demand representation.
By 1966, when Stokely Carmichael assumed leadership and delivered his "Black power" message, which is the first time that expression was heard publicly, the organization took on a more radical, black nationalist position.
Prior to this SNCC was in league with organizations, such as the NAACP and CORE, which emphasized voting rights and equal access to accommodations. However, after the death of Malcolm X, the 1965 Watts riots, and the murders of civil rights workers in the South, some black civil rights workers grew tired of non-violent resistance, as well as the focus on integration. More began to embrace the late Malcolm X's view that violence was necessary in self-defense, particularly Carmichael.
Out of this, black nationalist ideas developed. These focused on the uplift of black people and their communities and encouraged separatism. The development of the Black Panthers is indirectly linked to the radical shift in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
 
 

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