Non-Violence

Bruce Hartford: two types of non-violence training

• Philosophical method, understanding the method of nonviolence and why it is considered useful; James Lawson SNCC ‘the foundation of our purpose, the presupposition of our faith and the manner of our action’
• Tactical method: teaches demonstrators “how to be a protestor, how to sit in, how to picket, how to defend yourself against attack, training on how to remain cool when screamed insults and pouring stuff on you and hitting you”; Martin Luther King SCLC ‘merely a means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent’
• Inspired by Gandhi's campaign of ‘non-cooperation’

The Civil Rights movement

• 1950: the legal method was the dominant weapon of Black protest, skilled lawyers rather than mass action
• Blacks hope that White judges and Supreme Court Justices would issue favourable rulings in response to well-reasoned and well-argued court cases, such as Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka Decision
• 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and the unfolding decade of black protest changed all of this
• Showed the entire community could be mobilised for an indefinite time (boycott lasted over a year)
• Black Church which had a mass base and served as the main repository of Black culture proved to be capable of generating large volumes of protest
• Out of Montgomery came Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) first highly visible social movement organisation (SMO) of direct action protests. Church based
• MLK chosen to lead movement
• Ruling by the Supreme Court which declared bus segregation in Alabama unconstitutional saw the victory
• Disruptive tactics included boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides, mass marches, mass jailing and legal challenges
• Sit-in created spin off tactics: wade ins, kneel/pray ins, phone ins (segregated businesses)
• Sit in movement led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC) increased organisational base of movement, constituted the framework through which white students could participate
• Base included Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) , Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), NAACP
• Lawson - King ‘had the eyes of the world on where he went’
• Intensity and visibility of demonstrations caused the Kennedy Administration and the Congress to seek measures that would end demonstrations and restore social order