With a substitute, we watched a documentary which gave a general summary of the events that occurred during the Civil Rights movement. By the end of the end of the video, there were two questioned that prevailed in my mind. First, why, after having two men (Mylum and Bryant) being found innocent for the murder of Emmett Till and weeks later admit to the crime in the press; were whites still willing to stand behind segregation? How were they able to continue to push for white supremacy with such monstrous acts occurring? Secondly, why is it that Martin Luther King Jr. had to ask African Americans that when desegregation finally came that blacks go into situations with a sense of reasonableness? Why, after the hell they were out through were such things being asked of them? I have found myself struggling while learning about these events, completely consumed by disgust over what occurred in our country.
Following the movie we discussed sit-ins, which were the most effective tactic of the Civil Rights movement. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) gave young African Americans the oppertunity to make decisions about the direction the movement was headed. In Greensboro, NC on February 1960, four black students sat at a segregated lunch counter at Woolworths store. Angry whites poured condiments over the demonstrators, even dropping lit cigarettes down the backs of the demonstrators shirts and dressed. after King showed his support of these demonstrations, more than 70,000 students participated in sit-ins in 1961. This form of nonviolent protest occurred throughout the 1960's.
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