SNCC book review
The evolution of SNCC is interesting because it began almost byaccident but ended up having a profound effect not only on the Civil Rightsmovement but on multiple movements for change in the United States duringthat time, including the growing movement to protest the United State'sinvolvement in Viet Nam. The book also makes an important point abouthistorical movements: no one group will have all the answers any more thanany one person will have all the answers. While Martin Luther King and hisgroup, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, tends to get most ofthe credit for gaining civil rights for all, they did not do it alone, andsometimes SNCC's contributions -- both in their actions and in theirevolving philosophy -- were crucial. The book is divided into three major parts: "Coming Together,""Looking Inward," and "Falling Apart." As the author analyzes the actionsand thought processes of those involved in SNCC, he reveals a much morethree-dimensional picture of the group than people might otherwise be awareof. While the SNCC ended up promoting ideas that were much more radicaland confrontational than those of SCLC, those who shaped the group's
Rap Brown but alsoMarion Berry, future mayor of Washington, D. Eventually the InterstateCommerce Commission was forced to support desegregation of interstatepublic transportation facilities, and eventually the federal government didprovide the needed support to ensure voting rights for all. For instance, many incidents where SNCCleaders were jailed got little play in the press, but when King and RalphAbernathy, SCLC leaders were jailed with them, that would get the press'sattention. SNCC's first radical action was to quietly defy segregation laws, atlunch counters and in public transportation waiting rooms. They stayed in the homes of the rural residents, earningtheir room and board by helping with chores such as feeding the animals andchopping wood. In an atteempt toget the attention of the Federal government, the SNCC played an importantrole in leading the March on Washington in 1963, where Martin Luther Kinggave his "I Have a Dream" speech. They started out embracinga non-violent approach to ending segregation in the south (eventuallyfocusing more on voter registration) and only accepted confrontation aspart of their strategy when they realized that non-violence by itself wouldnot work. Acceptance dissipates prejudice; hope ends despair. Nevertheless, the group helped make dramatic gains in civil rights. SDE liked SNCC's idea of avoiding a hierarchy of powerand modeled themselves after SNCC in that way. They saw this as a major philosophical difference betweenthem and other civil rights groups. , JulianBond became the first elected black state assemblyman in Georgia (althoughthey refused to seat him for over a year.
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Acceptance Essays
