What was the name of the group which coordinated the sit-ins?
The sit-in, an act of civil disobedience, was a tactic that aroused sympathy for the demonstrators among moderates and uninvolved individuals. African Americans (later joined by white activists), usually students, would go to segregated lunch counters (luncheonettes), sit in all available spaces, request service,…
To capitalize on the momentum of the sit-in movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April 1960.
Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil were the young men who are credited with being responsible for the first sit-in. After news of this initial sit-in got out, this peaceful form of protest began gaining momentum around the country.
By the end of March the movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. Though many were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, national media coverage of the sit-ins brought increasing attention to the civil rights movement.
Why did SNCC organize sit-ins? To show their determination to win civil rights.
What was the Greensboro Sit- In? Four young African-American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter and refused to leave after being denied service.
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization designed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement.
Sit-ins were not new — the NAACP as well as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized them in both the North and the South following World War II — but in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a national movement emerged.
As the movement grew and more students, both Black and white, became involved, civil rights organizations such as CORE and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) organized training sessions in nonviolence for participants.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in 1960 in the wake of student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters across the South and became the major channel of student participation in the civil rights movement.
