Race Beat Ch. 14 From Sit Ins to the SNCC

By Jennifer Mdurvwa, Anna Idler, Leslie Ofori, Judy Lite, and Maureen O'Donoghue

Chapter 14 of Race Beat deals with the segregation of schools, and the rise of the press in the civil rights movement.

On February 1, 1960 the movement was pushed further into gear as the first public protest by frustrated Negro students took place. As four freshmen at North Carolina began to practice sit-ins, Negro students began following it everywhere. While in the beginning, there was not one reporter or photographer there to take notice of the event, the growth and buzz eventually became undeniable.

As the days passed, the people protesting grew, and so did the reporters. This event also sparked similar sit-ins across the South, some running for up to six weeks at a time. “This was a brush fire of uncertain direction, power, or durability, uncertain even to the students and their elders.”

Eventually the Nashville Students won their campaign for desegregated lunch counters, causing the biggest success for nonviolent protest since the Montgomery bus boycott.

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