The Civil Rights Movement in during the 1900’s had many different ideas and strategies to help motivate and encourage not only African Americans but all different races to fight for civil rights. During the 1950’s, a man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. brought to light a new philosophy to help fight in the movement called civil disobedience, that he got from studying
Gandhi, which helped bring about the sit-in movement. The sit-in movement, which started with four African American students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, helped shed light on the racism and hatred towards African Americans and was both a departure and continuation from previous civil rights strategies.
During the civil rights movement, a lot of tension and hatred started to rise from southern whites who did not want African Americans to be equal to them. This hatred towards African Americans showed in literacy tests when blacks got the right to vote, when blacks got the desegregation of schools ,and other laws the government passed in favor of the civil rights movement. Many whites opposed what african americans were fighting for but some whites were for the civil rights movements and some even joined in on the sit-ins. With the new philosophy of civil disobedience, college students decided to join the movement and came up with the sit-in movement. In “The 1960 Student Campaign for civil rights’’, states how there are whites who are for the civil rights movement. “ A couple of old ladies … came up to pat us on the back sort of and say, “ah, you should have done it ten years ago. It’s a good thing I think you’re doing.” These were black ladies. No, these are white ladies.” This helped blacks see that they are not in this fight for civil rights alone. Also, this gave blacks motivation to keep up with the sit-in movement and let them know that they are going in the right direction. Those old ladies gave them confidence in what the college students are trying to achieve and helped African Americans see that there are whites out there that will help and support them.
The College students took the philosophy of civil disobedience from the older generation but needed a way to make it their own so that they can have a voice since it impacts their future. The sit-in movement was mainly college students taking action, not so much the older generation. This caused the older generation to split in having support and not having support about what the students were doing. From “The 1960 Student Campaign for Civil Rights”, Reverend C. T. Vivian explains in his exert titled “C. T. Vivian Explains the Reactions to the Nashville Sit-ins” how parents of the students felt about what they were doing. “ Now, many of the parents were afraid, thought that their children’s lives would be destroyed forever because of what would be on their record.” Parents did not want their kids to be part of something that could potentially jeopardize their future. Many parents started contacting the College presidents, vice presidents and staff to stop the students from participating in this new movement but students were focused on what they wanted to do to help the overall civil rights movement. The students were starting something the older generation couldn't see being special but, the students ended up coming up with something that would impact the movement in such a positive way. Also, Some older generations supported the sit-in movement. In the excerpt titled “ NEGRO SITDOWNS STIRS FEAR OF WIDER UNREST IN SOUTH”, shares how the sit-in movement was backed by civil rights leaders. “Instead of hoped-for statements of disapproval, many Negro professionals expressed support for demonstrators.” These leaders saw what the students had done to help the movement as the sit-ins started to grow. They knew that this would be a turning point and would impact the civil rights movements in a positive way.
All the strategies involved with the civil rights movement had one main goal in mind, to be able to have the same rights as whites in America, to stop segregation. The sit-in movement helped college students, young adults have a voice and fight for their rights too. The students were determined, they had aims and goals in mind. Stated in “ NEGRO SITDOWNS STIRS FEAR OF WIDER UNREST IN SOUTH”, the writer shares what the students were aiming to achieve. “Students of race relations in the area contended that the movement reflected the growing dissatisfaction over the slow pace of desegregation in schools and public facilities. It demonstrated, they said, a determination to wipe out the last vestiges of segregation.” The students understood everything that was going on in america and were sick of it. The students were focused in what they were doing even though they received threats and actual physical harm done to them, they felt as if it was their time to fight and take a stand. The students needed to make the rest of the United States see how bad the hatred and segregation was. The students had other goals in mind too. The reason in choosing Woolworth’s as the place to do the sit-ins was because of the attention that shop got all around the United States. Woolworth’s was big in the public, newspapers, radios, and television. The whole country was going to know about what these students were doing and what was being done to the students for them sitting in. By the choosing woolworths, helped spark a large sit-in movement around the nation and helped the civil rights movement get more attention.
Civil disobedience was a new philosophy brought into the civil rights movement by using passive resistance. Stated in “ NEGRO SITDOWNS STIRS FEAR OF WIDER UNREST IN SOUTH”, “The technique was conceived by Mohandas K. Gandhi of India and popularized among Southern Negroes by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to learn about this philosophy by studying Mohandas K. Gandhi. Dr. King shared his studies and put them to use during the Montgomery bus boycott, which helped spark the college students to act with civil disobedience by starting the sit-in movement. Civil disobedience and passive resistance also share the strategy prior to this new philosophy called non violence. African Americans decided not to show and age4r or act aggressively towards whites for racist behavior so that people will not get the wrong idea and say that blacks provoked whites. After the movement started growing and African Americans started doing sit-ins in other stores, whites in the south got very angry and decided to act. Also stated in “ NEGRO SITDOWNS STIRS FEAR OF WIDER UNREST IN SOUTH”, “ In a few cases the Negroes were elbowed, jostled and shoved. Itching powder was sprinkled on them and they were spattered with eggs.” Southern whites would assault blacks for sitting in the restaurant but when cops showed up, the only arrests made was on blacks for sitting in the whites only section.