Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Notes

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

1. Founded in 1957 after the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
2. Led by key figures including Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy.
3. Mission was rooted in Christian ethics and nonviolent resistance.
4. Membership was open to people of all races and backgrounds.

Beliefs and Strategy

1. Nonviolence and religious duty were central tenets, with the SCLC emerging from a conference of ministers and activists who viewed civil rights as a moral obligation.
2. Bayard Rustin played a key role in shaping the organization’s early structure and strategy.

Campaigns and Later Years

1. Focus on Leadership and Local Campaigns:
   1. Trained leaders and organized campaigns through local affiliates rather than direct command.
   2. Programs included voter registration drives, boycotts of discriminatory businesses, and educational initiatives like citizenship schools in Georgia.
2. Major Campaigns:
   1. Albany (1962), Birmingham (1963), and Selma (1965).
   2. Instrumental in the March on Washington (1963) and the Chicago Freedom Movement (1966), expanding its influence beyond the South.
3. Shift to Economic Justice:
   1. Economic issues became a growing focus with Operation Breadbasket (1962) and the Poor People’s Campaign (1968).
   2. Reflected King’s vision of poverty as a civil rights issue, while rejecting Black separatism.
4. Operation Breadbasket (1962):
   1. Aimed to improve economic conditions for Black Americans through boycotts and negotiations with businesses.
   2. Pressured companies to hire Black workers and support Black-owned enterprises.
   3. Reinforced King’s strategy of nonviolent, community-based activism.
5. Poor People’s Campaign (1968):
   1. Planned shortly before King’s assassination to address economic inequality across racial lines.
   2. Demanded federal anti-poverty programs and economic rights.
   3. Culminated in a mass demonstration in Washington, D.C., known as Resurrection City.
6. Decline after 1968:
   1. The SCLC’s influence declined after King’s assassination.
   2. The rise of the Black Power movement and criticism of the SCLC’s strict commitment to nonviolence revealed generational and ideological divides within the Civil Rights Movement.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

1. Founded in April 1960 out of student-led sit-ins.
2. Ella Baker, a veteran organizer, was key in shaping the group, stressing decentralized, grassroots leadership.
3. Encouraged students to remain independent from hierarchical groups like the SCLC.
4. At its founding meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, about 200 college students committed to nonviolent direct action and local community empowerment.

Early Activism

1. Focused on the Deep South’s most dangerous and disenfranchised rural areas, especially Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, where white supremacy was strongest.
   1. Unlike earlier civil rights campaigns centered in cities, SNCC workers lived within local Black communities, risking extreme violence to carry out voter registration and education campaigns.
2. Helped organize the Freedom Rides alongside CORE, with leaders like Diane Nash and John Lewis continuing despite violent opposition.
   1. SNCC also led voter drives in Selma and organized the Albany Movement, which challenged segregation in public facilities and transportation.
   2. These actions laid the groundwork for larger legislative reforms.

Freedom Summer, Black Power, and Decline

1. In 1964, SNCC organized Freedom Summer, a massive voter registration drive in Mississippi in collaboration with COFO.
   • This led to the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP).
   • Fannie Lou Hamer famously testified against racial exclusion at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
2. After 1965, frustration over continued violence and slow federal progress pushed SNCC toward Black Power ideals.
   • Stokely Carmichael’s 1966 “Black Power” speech during the Meredith March marked a turning point.
   • By 1967, the group expelled white members and dropped “Nonviolent” from its name, reflecting a deeper ideological shift.
3. By 1970, internal tensions and competition with groups like the Black Panther Party led to SNCC’s dissolution.
   • Despite its short existence, SNCC’s commitment to grassroots activism, direct confrontation with Jim Crow, and empowering local Black voices left a lasting legacy in American civil rights history.