[1] On the 2010 National Assessment of Educational
Progress U.S. History Exam, students were asked to
correctly identify and 1 will describe the Brown v. Board
of Education Supreme Court decision, a piece of landmark
legislation which officially ended segregated schooling in
1954. [2] Only 2 percent of 12,000 students demonstrated
sufficient knowledge to receive full credit. [3] This telling
statistic illustrates the fear expressed by Maureen Costello,
director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching
Tolerance project. Costello has expressed concern that
teachings related to the Civil Rights Movement are
restricted to too few stories: 2 [4] However, the 1960s
American Civil Rights Movement was more than just
several iconic figures fighting racial segregation with
impassioned 3 speeches, fiery rhetoric, or single acts of
resistance, at its heart was the commitment and sacrifice of
ordinary citizens. [5] An organization designed to involve
young African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement,
SNCC was instrumental in turning the struggle for equality
into a popular and highly publicized movement. 4
SNCC focused on one of the most important barriers
to civil rights: disenfranchisement in the South. 5 In
many southern counties, 60 to 80 percent of the African
American population was unregistered and therefore
ineligible to vote; additionally, institutional racism barred
many registered voters from political participation. Robert
Parris 6 Moses, a teacher from New York, initiated the
SNCC Mississippi voter registration project in 1961.
Student volunteers accompanied residents to the
courthouse to register—a dangerous 7 entertainment in
the then-segregated South. SNCC brought the freedom
movement to previously uninvolved populations, a critical
step in the struggle against segregation.
Two years later, SNCC organized the Freedom Vote, a
mock election for African Americans to demonstrate
8 it’s determination to assert their rights to vote. 85,000
ballots were collected that summer, as SNCC spread the
fire of freedom. The following year, SNCC’s work reached
its zenith with the “Freedom Summer” program, which
flooded the South with over 800 volunteers to teach in
“Freedom Schools” and to register voters. Nearly 50
schools were teaching basic literacy skills to roughly 2,500
students by summer’s end. 9 SNCC did not experience
much practical success in registering voters. Through their
efforts, they brought the call for justice to the forefront of
the American consciousness. National media outlets began
following the work of SNCC and the violent reprisals they
faced in the South.
10 SNCC’s innovative spirit and organizational style
continues to appear in today’s grassroots movements that
seek justice and peace. The work of SNCC was central to
the effort because it created public pressure to pass key
civil rights legislation. 11 It emphasized the principle that
every voice had an integral part in the struggle, SNCC was
able to accomplish what other civil rights organizations
could not: it brought a unifying spirit to the American Civil
Rights Movement.
Progress U.S. History Exam, students were asked to
correctly identify and 1 will describe the Brown v. Board
of Education Supreme Court decision, a piece of landmark
legislation which officially ended segregated schooling in
1954. [2] Only 2 percent of 12,000 students demonstrated
sufficient knowledge to receive full credit. [3] This telling
statistic illustrates the fear expressed by Maureen Costello,
director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching
Tolerance project. Costello has expressed concern that
teachings related to the Civil Rights Movement are
restricted to too few stories: 2 [4] However, the 1960s
American Civil Rights Movement was more than just
several iconic figures fighting racial segregation with
impassioned 3 speeches, fiery rhetoric, or single acts of
resistance, at its heart was the commitment and sacrifice of
ordinary citizens. [5] An organization designed to involve
young African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement,
SNCC was instrumental in turning the struggle for equality
into a popular and highly publicized movement. 4
SNCC focused on one of the most important barriers
to civil rights: disenfranchisement in the South. 5 In
many southern counties, 60 to 80 percent of the African
American population was unregistered and therefore
ineligible to vote; additionally, institutional racism barred
many registered voters from political participation. Robert
Parris 6 Moses, a teacher from New York, initiated the
SNCC Mississippi voter registration project in 1961.
Student volunteers accompanied residents to the
courthouse to register—a dangerous 7 entertainment in
the then-segregated South. SNCC brought the freedom
movement to previously uninvolved populations, a critical
step in the struggle against segregation.
Two years later, SNCC organized the Freedom Vote, a
mock election for African Americans to demonstrate
8 it’s determination to assert their rights to vote. 85,000
ballots were collected that summer, as SNCC spread the
fire of freedom. The following year, SNCC’s work reached
its zenith with the “Freedom Summer” program, which
flooded the South with over 800 volunteers to teach in
“Freedom Schools” and to register voters. Nearly 50
schools were teaching basic literacy skills to roughly 2,500
students by summer’s end. 9 SNCC did not experience
much practical success in registering voters. Through their
efforts, they brought the call for justice to the forefront of
the American consciousness. National media outlets began
following the work of SNCC and the violent reprisals they
faced in the South.
10 SNCC’s innovative spirit and organizational style
continues to appear in today’s grassroots movements that
seek justice and peace. The work of SNCC was central to
the effort because it created public pressure to pass key
civil rights legislation. 11 It emphasized the principle that
every voice had an integral part in the struggle, SNCC was
able to accomplish what other civil rights organizations
could not: it brought a unifying spirit to the American Civil
Rights Movement.