Relevance of the Sit-Ins to the Civil Rights Movement

 Relevance of the Sit-Ins to the Civil Rights Movement

Racial inequality has been quite rampant in the US for a time now. That has occurred since the nation’s establishment; there, the Whites segregated the Blacks and other people of color. Even though the Blacks were useful as Buffalo soldiers, they were still viewed as inferior. As a result, the Whites believed that they were not supposed to share any resources with them. For example, they were restricted from eating at all White restaurants, sharing schools, and even residential places with the White people. That contributed to the outbreak of the Sit-in movements, organized by Black students and focused on agitating for equal rights. The Sit-ins were peaceful demonstrations that the Black students demanded equal service like their fellow Whites. One instance is the Greensboro Woolworths situation that happened in North Carolina. During the encounter, four black leaners converged at White-restaurant to get some meal. Consequently, that contributed to the outbreak of more Sit-Ins and resulted in the formation of the Civil rights movements. That was a result of the fact that these associations attracted people of all races to fight for equal rights and treatment. This paper seeks to discuss a literature review of the most sources related to sit-ins and how they effectively present their importance within the civil rights movements, the 1960s.

Based on Schmidt’s article The Sit-Ins: Protests and Legal Change in the Civil Rights Era by Melissa Milewski, the article is significant since they discuss American law’s stand regarding the demonstrations and sit-in occurrences. Even though the encounters were peaceful, the participants still faced arrests and detention. Upon the establishment of the civil rights movement, many Blacks were arrested. Therefore, the journal presents the White people’s reactions in the face of the fight and proceedings of the legal wars that resulted from the sit-in Movements waged by the Blacks.[1] However, the White authorities remained adamant about giving them freedom and meeting their civil rights demands. Therefore, the journal is relevant because it presents all the legal concepts that ensued during the sit-ins and fight against racial segregation. Moreover, another article significant to the discussion is The Launching of the Sit-in Movement: The Role of Black Women at Bennett College, written by Deidre Flowers. The journal has information on the role played by women in the encounters. According to the article, the participation of females at Bennett College contributed to the declaration of the educational discrimination rule as unconstitutional. Subsequently, such events are triggers that motivated women to participate in the movements and sit-ins throughout the US.[2] It is true to say that the Benett College women raised inspirations and expectations of many Black women. That increased their confidence levels, that when the demands are met, they would finally enjoy equal rights and freedoms.

Nevertheless, Old’s article Sit-Ins: Social Actions to End Segregation discusses the start of the sit-in encounters, their progress throughout the nation and how they contributed to the outbreak of the civil rights movements. The entire explanation of the article helps people understand how the movements established a strategy that was used to fight for people’s civil rights. For instance,  renowned public figure Martin Luther king exploited the sit-in movements in the Montgomery bus boycott. That occurred in Alabama, where Mahatma Gandhi also applied passive resistance copied from the sit-in occurrences. Furthermore, as a result of the Blacks’ peaceful encounters related to the movements presented in the Washington Post, Florida’s Governor, Collins, indicated that it was unethical for the White people to work in the same places with the Blacks but ended up with them discriminating against them at lunch encounters.[3] That means the journal discusses the significant social revolutions that included the Blacks and how they contributed to an end to racial segregation.

Consequently, The Wiley-Bishop Student Movement: A Case Study in the 1960 Civil Rights Sit-In by Donald Seals gives an insight into the relations between the civil rights movements and the student sit-ins in the US. For example, the article presents that the Texas sit-in organized and controlled by college students was most iconic. The Blacks were allowed to use all the public facilities equally. Most of the student participants were later introduced to the movement created by Martin Luther. Therefore, the article presents a holistic view and series of the peaceful activities that contributed to racial discrimination within the US. In this case, the Blacks were liberated and allowed to access education, good housing and public facilities for all.[4] That means the article is relevant because it provides information on the sit-ins experienced in the 1950s by the college learners and the significance of the 1960s civil rights associations. James Farmer became the most iconic for the big four, who assisted in fights for equal civil rights.

Martin’s article The Lawson Affair, the sit-ins and Beyond, also has some important contributions on the Sit-ins and the civil rights movements. In the discussion presented by Lawson, who witnessed the events ensued in Tennessee and later the civil rights associations. James was among the six black students who were enrolled at Vanderbilt, the Divinity School. He was a key witness in the peaceful demonstrations, which involved both the police and students. Rather than being fair, the law enforcers acted as key masterminds in triggering the public to engage in the promotion of violence. The article discussed James Lawson’s involvement, the sit-in encounters in Nashville, and the general results that came out of it. As a result of the inequalities that the African Americans experienced from the policies, the sit-ins made James be expelled from school for his involvement in the civil rights fights. Moreover, James explains the unlawful arrests and detentions that came from the peaceful demonstrations in Tennessee.[5] The African-Americans got arrested just for coming out openly and condemning racial discrimination in educational institutions and the various restrictions on their residential places, restaurants they would be served in. When some of the journal articles discuss the positive effects of the sit-ins and how they motivated the African-Americans to fight for equal rights, Martin’s article explains the suffering and oppression experienced by them in their various encounters. Student expulsions, continuous bullying and detentions are some of the experiences and effects of the Sit-ins.

According to Oppenheimer’s “Institutions of Higher Learning and the 1960 Sit-Ins, the Negroes are described as one of the most influential groups that participated in mass social action against the American authorities. The students in these groups had heightened morale that united them in the face of the inequalities. First, the Negro group began by developing a differentiated economic framework to provide services to the whole race. The majority of the population were offered opportunities within the civil rights unions and got trained as well. During the initial 1960s, students were involved in the social movements as they continued to succeed in their door or die social demonstrations. However, the group also faced unprecedented failure in their social actions.[6] Their failure was heavily related to the action directed by the resistance level from the discriminative pressures. As from the studies, the higher the number of the Negroes in a particular region accounted for more threats to the dominant White population within the same area. Continuous economic and political developments led to high demand for educational reforms and services to the college Negros. That also made the Black movements continue enjoying freedom and popularity across the US.[7] This article is a significant and effective source as it contributes to information on the Negro groups’ involvement within the Sit-ins and civil rights movements.

Conclusively, the essay has discussed the literature review of most sources related to sit-ins and how they effectively present their importance within the civil rights movements, the 1960s. The sit-in movement’s progress was a key contributor to the end of the racial discrimination that occurred in the US. During this era, new policies and regulations were adopted to bring an end to the inequalities. A decent number of the Black participants got arrested, while others weres detained by the law enforcement departments. However, the positive effects of the Sit-ins we continue to remember as they contributed to the formation of civil rights movements. Subsequently, it opened future opportunities with the majority of the students joining activism. The occurrences assured people that well-coordinated and peaceful encounters were powerful and attracted masses who assisted civil rights movements. They applied both legal activism and mass protests. 

Bibliography

Flowers, Deidre B. "The launching of the student sit-in movement: The role of Black women at Bennett College." The Journal of African American History 90, no. 1-2 (2005): 52-63. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/JAAHv90n1-2p52

Martin Jr, A. W. "The Lawson Affair, the Sit-Ins, and Beyond: Observations of an Eyewitness." Tennessee Historical Quarterly 75, no. 2 (2016): 142-165. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26540228

Milewski, Melissa. "Christopher W. Schmidt. The Sit-Ins: Protest and Legal Change in the Civil Rights Era." (2019): 1105-1106. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhz494

Olds, Victoria M. "Sit-ins: Social action to end segregation." Social Work 6, no. 2 (1961): 99-105. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23708066

Oppenheimer, Martin. “Institutions of Higher Learning and the 1960 Sit-Ins: Some Clues for Social Action.” The Journal of Negro Education 32, no. 3 (1963): 286–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/2294379.

Seals, Donald. "The Wiley-Bishop Student Movement: A Case Study in the 1960 Civil RightsSit-ins." The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 106, no. 3 (2003): 418-440. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30239346

Searles, Ruth, and J. Allen Williams. “Negro College Students’ Participation in Sit-Ins.” Social Forces 40, no. 3 (1962): 215–20. https://doi.org/10.2307/2573631.