[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 113 (Thursday, July 29, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H6440-H6442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF STUDENT NONVIOLENT COORDINATING
COMMITTEE AND THE NATIONAL SIT-IN MOVEMENT
Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 1566) recognizing the 50th anniversary of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the pioneering of
college students whose determination and nonviolent resistance led to
the desegregation of lunch counters and places of public accommodation
over a 5-year period.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 1566
Whereas, on February 1, 1960, 4 students, Joseph McNeil,
Ezell Blair, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond, attending
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in
Greensboro, North Carolina, walked into Woolworth's
department store to purchase school supplies and then sat
down at the store's lunch counter for coffee;
Whereas they were refused service at the lunch counter and
stayed seated at the counter until the store closed;
Whereas when they were forced to leave the store, they
still had not been served;
Whereas these same students recruited other students from
Bennett College for Women and Dudley High School, and after a
few days of sit-ins, protestors filled almost all 66 places
at Greensboro's Woolworth's lunch counter, attracting the
attention of local reporters;
Whereas the actions of these 4 North Carolina A&T students
sparked a national sit-in movement;
Whereas by the end of February 1960, there were nonviolent
sit-ins in more than 30 communities in 7 States;
Whereas sit-ins spread to Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Durham,
Raleigh, Fayetteville, and other cities in North Carolina;
Whereas on February 9, students at Smith University in
Charlotte, North Carolina, instituted numerous sit-ins with
Friendship Junior College students in Rock Hill, South
Carolina;
Whereas most Charlotte lunch counters and restaurants
eventually integrated their businesses;
Whereas North and South Carolina students protested
segregation in Rock Hill, South Carolina, to push integration
and racial equality within local businesses;
Whereas on February 11 and 12, sit-ins spread to Hampton,
Virginia, and Rock Hill, South Carolina, respectively;
Whereas on February 25, 40 students tried to sit-in at the
Kress store in downtown Orangeburg, South Carolina;
Whereas Kress's lunch counter was closed and the stools
were removed to prevent Blacks from promoting nonviolent
resistance by sitting at a ``white-only'' facility;
Whereas, on March 15, 1960, almost 1,000 students from
South Carolina State and Claflin College began a peaceful
march downtown to protest segregation and support sit-ins,
and were attacked with clubs, tear-gas, and high-pressure
fire hoses;
Whereas almost 400 of the peaceful marchers were forced
into a police stockade, it was the largest Freedom Movement
mass arrest at that time;
Whereas, on February 13, 1960, African-American students in
Nashville, Tennessee, began a desegregation sit-in campaign
called the Nashville Student Movement;
Whereas racist violence escalated with harassment and
beatings and many nonviolent protesters were arrested,
overflowing the jails;
Whereas 81 of the students were convicted of ``disorderly
conduct'' and refused to pay the fine and chose instead to
serve their time in jail;
Whereas, on April 19, 1960 the home Alexander Looby, the
attorney representing most students in the Nashville Student
Movement, was destroyed by a terrorist bomb;
Whereas the bomb on Looby's home led to a nonviolent march
to the Nashville City
[[Page H6441]]
Hall where student activist Diane Nash confronted Mayor Ben
West, forcing him to admit segregation was morally wrong;
Whereas the Nashville sit-in movement led to it being the
first major city to begin desegregation of its public
facilities on May 10, 1960;
Whereas, on February 22, 1960, the Civic Interest Group in
Baltimore, Maryland, initiated sit-ins and pickets of
department stores, ice cream parlors, and movie theaters;
Whereas Baltimore restaurants agreed to integrate after a
short period of time;
Whereas Baltimore's Civic Interest Group continued its
nonviolent resistance campaign over the next several years to
initiate integration of all Baltimore businesses;
Whereas Atlanta University Center (AUC) students began sit-
ins on March 15, 1960, after forming the Committee on Appeal
for Human Rights that facilitated training sessions and
workshops on the tactics of nonviolent resistance;
Whereas Atlanta students focused on support of Atlanta's
African-American community to initiate boycott of all
segregated stores;
Whereas by September of 1961, many Atlanta store owners
desegregated their lunch counters based on the Atlanta
students' commitment to integration;
Whereas, on March 16, 1960, students in Savannah, Georgia,
demanded the integration of public facilities and the hiring
of African-American clerks and managers within stores;
Whereas Savannah students won their integration demands by
boycotting White-owned downtown stores;
Whereas sit-ins in Memphis were launched on March 19, 1960,
by students from LeMoyne College and Owen Junior College;
Whereas Memphis students organized sit-ins at the main
public library and local department stores;
Whereas protests in Memphis continued throughout the summer
of 1960 and resulted in the integration of the local bus
lines and the City's parks;
Whereas, on March 28, 1960, students from Baton Rouge and
New Orleans Southern and Xavier University, respectively,
began nonviolent resistant sit-ins;
Whereas Louisiana student activists were arrested for sit-
ins, expelled from school and barred from all public colleges
and universities within Louisiana;
Whereas their peers called for a boycott of all classes
until the expelled students were reinstated;
Whereas the Louisiana boycotts continued for years and
reached it's height with the Freedom March in September 1963;
Whereas the civil rights movement principle of peaceful
protests spread throughout the South, and the Nation was
captivated by the images of young people marching, praying,
singing, demonstrating, and in many cases, being met with
violence;
Whereas by July 1960, Woolworth and Kress Stores agreed to
serve all ``properly dressed and well behaved people''
regardless of race;
Whereas on from April 15-17, 1960, with an $800 grant, 126
delegates from 58 student sit-in centers and from 12
different States, from the North and the South gathered at
Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and formed the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which lead
to the national sit-in effort, and helped lead the ``Freedom
Rides'' in 1961 and the historic March on Washington in 1963;
Whereas SNCC was advised by Ella Baker, who was a former
member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and
worked as a field secretary and director of branches for the
National Association of the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP);
Whereas Ella Baker listened to the students and she
encouraged their nonviolent efforts as a quiet leader of a
grass-roots effort;
Whereas SNCC learned from great planners like Jim Forman
and A. Philip Randolph, and were inspired by Jim Lawson and
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and developed an unique, agile,
determined, and organized approach to nonviolent action, that
ultimately forced the desegregation of the South;
Whereas by the end of April 1960, a sit-in had occurred in
every southern State;
Whereas by August 1961, one and a half years after the
inception of the sit-ins, the movement had attracted over
70,000 participants and generated over 3,000 arrests;
Whereas in addition to its goal of desegregating places of
public accommodation, SNCC engaged in a voter registration
program in some of the most segregated areas of the country;
Whereas SNCC's voter registration program culminated in
1964 with the Mississippi Summer Project, sponsored by the
Council of Federated Organizations (SNCC, Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE) and Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC)), during which hundreds of volunteers, Black and
White, from the North and South, coordinated and participated
in voter registration projects and the formation of Freedom
Schools;
Whereas SNCC organized Freedom Schools which endeavored to
eradicate fear and to educate African-Americans about their
right to vote and participate in the democratic process;
Whereas in 1964, SNCC helped organize the Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which challenged the
legitimacy and seating of Mississippi's officially recognized
Democratic Party;
Whereas the national party decision-makers promised
expansion of gender and racially based restrictions;
Whereas in 1972 racially and gender based restrictions were
formalized into the McGovern Rules, which outlawed explicitly
racist local party affiliates;
Whereas SNCC facilitated the organization and
implementation of the nonviolent protests against
segregation;
Whereas SNCC worked with the NAACP to push the passage of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and
Whereas the enthusiasm of the students and the support they
garnered for their pacifism in the face of hatred, led to the
beginning of integration within the United States and the
enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the founding of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC);
(2) recognizes and commemorate the significance and
importance of SNCC and its role in organizing the national
sit-in movement and the role that they played in the
desegregation of United States society and for creating the
political climate necessary to pass legislation to expand
civil rights and voting rights for all people in the United
States;
(3) encourages the people of the United States to recognize
and celebrate the legal victories of the national sit-in
movement that sought to eradicate segregation in United
States society; and
(4) aspires to work with the same courage, determination,
dignity, and commitment exemplified by those pioneering
students who dared to challenge a segregated society by
addressing modern-day inequalities and injustice.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Forbes) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.
General Leave
Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have
5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add
extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Tennessee?
There was no objection.
Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, better known as SNCC, one of the organizations
that served as the very foundation of the civil rights movement, the
movement that brought America closer to its purpose, its established
goals in the Declaration of Independence, which we had been striving to
achieve and are still striving to achieve, as a place where there is
equal opportunity for all people.
It was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee that was
responsible for conceptualizing and implementing the sit-in movement.
College students came together in the name of justice and equality to
desegregate lunch counters and other public places through nonviolent
demonstrations.
I recently read a copy of the Smithsonian magazine in which there was
an article about the sit-in movement. There was an interview with
Joseph McNeil, one of the four students from North Carolina A&T who
participated in the sit-ins at Woolworth's department store in 1960.
While studying engineering physics at North Carolina A&T, Mr. McNeil
would take the bus from New York to North Carolina and personally
experience the shift in his status as he went from north to south. As
an African American, he saw the differences in America traveling those
distances, differences that should not have been allowed.
He is quoted in the article saying, ``In Philadelphia, I could eat
anywhere in the bus station. By Maryland, that had changed.'' And in
the Greyhound depot in Richmond, Virginia, McNeil couldn't buy a hot
dog at a food counter reserved for whites. He further explained, ``I
was still the same person, but I was treated differently. To face this
kind of experience and not challenge it meant we were part of the
problem.''
Well, the problem was America, and America needed changing. SNCC was
one of the groups that came forth to change America and see that Thomas
Jefferson's words weren't just words on paper as they were established
in 1776 in the Declaration of Independence, but the practice of
America, and that all
[[Page H6442]]
men were created equal and had those inalienable rights.
In honor of those students' heroic efforts, I would like to make
three observations regarding their actions and their implications.
First, these sit-ins and other forms of nonviolent protests changed
the climate and character of our country forever. As a direct result of
SNCC sit-ins, protests, and boycotts, cities around the country, the
South in particular, began to integrate their businesses in 1960, and
thereafter, paving the way for the entire country to do so.
SNCC's work was not limited to integration of places of public
accommodation. SNCC worked with the NAACP to achieve the passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation not only at places
of public accommodation, but also in schools, in hiring, and in voting
registration. Shortly thereafter, in the wake of these achievements,
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Second, despite SNCC's plethora of victories, their work was not
easy, uncontroversial, or even safe. Those dedicated students faced
clubs, tear gas, and high-pressure fire hoses at peaceful marches. Many
faced harassment and beatings from racial dissenters, and many were
arrested and even jailed despite their nonviolence. Some lost their
lives.
{time} 0020
These challenges posed by opposition did not stop SNCC. They
continued to march, sit in, boycott, and to raise awareness for equal
treatment and opportunities regardless of race--all shown on
television--raising America's consciousness in seeing that morality was
the future of this country.
For example, in Louisiana, student protesters were expelled from
schools and were barred from the State's public colleges and
universities. After the State barred these students from receiving the
education they deserved, their peers boycotted classes for years.
The sit-in movement spanned across many States, including my State of
Tennessee. The Nashville sit-in movement led to its being the first
major city to begin the desegregation of its public facilities on May
10 of 1960. In Memphis, students from Le Moyne College and Owen Junior
College also organized sit-ins at the main public library and local
department stores.
Lastly, as I reflect on these important changes of the students that
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee brought about in our
country to bring it closer to the democratic ideals on which it was
founded, I cannot help but be reminded of how far our country still has
to go to achieve the goals that were set out in the Declaration of
Independence.
Glaring inequality still exists in education, housing, health,
marriage, and other civil rights. America still has a distance to go.
It is critical that we look to the accomplishments of the SNCC as an
inspiration to work harder for civil rights that have not yet been met
and not as a pacifier to convince ourselves that we truly live up to
the name ``free country.''
With that said, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the sit-in movement that it
sparked, which really sparked the justice movement in our Nation, I
urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FORBES. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I support House Resolution 1566. This resolution
recognizes and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which is also known as SNCC, and the
national sit-in movement in the 1960s.
The SNCC was a key contributor to the civil rights movement in the
1960s. The nonviolent aims of the SNCC helped bring about
desegregation, civil rights, and voting rights for all Americans.
The SNCC formed under the leadership of Ella Baker at Shaw University
in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April 1960. A conference was held for
students to share experiences and to coordinate activities with regard
to racial equality. As sit-ins occurred throughout the South, the SNCC
grew into a large organization. By August of 1961, the movement had
attracted more than 70,000 participants.
The SNCC's nonviolent sit-ins, boycotts, and protests helped bring
about the desegregation of places of public accommodation. The SNCC was
also one of the leaders of the Freedom Rides in 1961 and of the
historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. SNCC Freedom
Riders put themselves at great risk by traveling in racially integrated
groups throughout the South. More than 400 people took part in these
Freedom Rides throughout the spring and summer of 1961.
Robert Parris Moses helped transform the SNCC from a student protest
group to a community-based political organization for the rural poor.
He led a voter registration project in Mississippi in 1961 that became
a springboard for similar SNCC activities from 1962 to 1966.
The SNCC's voter registration efforts culminated in 1964 with the
Mississippi Summer Project, which was sponsored by the SNCC, by the
Congress of Racial Equality, and by the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. Hundreds of black and white volunteers from the North and
South participated in voter registration projects.
The SNCC also organized Freedom Schools for the purpose of
eradicating fear and educating African Americans about their right to
vote and to participate in the democratic process.
Finally, the SNCC worked with the NAACP to bring about the passage of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
It is clear that the nonviolent sit-ins of the students who began the
SNCC in 1960 inspired others later to take historic steps toward the
building of racial equality in America, so I urge my colleagues to join
me in supporting this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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