The Struggle IntensifiesThe Civil Rights Movement21.3

Sit-ins Challenge SegregationCORE created the sit-in, a technique in which a group of CORE members simply sat down at a segregated lunch counter or other public placeIf refused service they stayedOften the targets of racial violenceSit-ins worked: forced business owners to decide between serving protestors or risking disruption and loss of business

The Freedom RidesSupreme Court expanded its ban on segregation of buses to include bus station waiting rooms and restaurantsCORE and SNCC organized the Freedom Ridesa test to see if the South would obey the Supreme Court ruling

Freedom RidesRiders met violence13 freedom riders departed from Washington in 1961Anniston, Alabama a heavily armed white mob met the first busMore Freedom Riders joined and the movement pushed on

National ReactionsPhotographs of the smoldering bus in Anniston horrified the countryViolence continued for the riders in Birmingham and MontgomeryVolunteers were arrestednew volunteers replaced them - also arrested

National ReactionsAttorney General Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals to protect the Freedom RidersRFK pressured the Interstate Commerce Commission to prohibit segregation in all interstate transportation (trains, planes, and buses)

Integration at Ole MissThe NAACP filed a lawsuit claiming that an AA students application was turned down on racial groundsThe Supreme Court ruled in favor of the NAACPMississippi Governor Ross Barnett personally blocked the way to the admissions office

Integration at Ole MissPresident Kennedy sent federal marshals to accompany Meredith to campusCowards of angry white protesters destroyed vehicles and violence broke outTear gas used, JFK had to send troops to restore order

Clash in BirminghamThe head of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, invited Marin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC to visit in 1963King called it, the most segregated city in AmericaKing and others planned boycotts in downtown stores and local churchesBirmingham police commissioner Eugene Bull Connor, had MLK jailed

From Birmingham JailSome white clergy criticized the campaign as an ill-timed threat to law and orderKing responded from his cell with a Letter from Birmingham Jail

From Birmingham JailWhen King was released, he organized a march of both adults and young peoplePolice commissioner arrested more than 900 young peoplePoliced used high-pressured fire hoses, police dogs, and clubs on the protestors

The Nation WatchesThe nation watched the violence in Birmingham with shockMany moderates began to be sympathetic to the civil rights movementCompromise reached:desegregate the city facilitiesfairer hiring practicesSuccess in Birmingham was just one example of how nonviolent protest could work