Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Summary

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed originally by four African-American college students. Although originally thought to be formed by just African-Americans, many white college students as well joined the cause. This committee was greatly successful because of the white involvement; SNCC was able to appeal to some whites simply because of the founders expression of religious and moral values. The goal of SNCC was to eradicate Jim Crow separation in the South. Not only did SNCC work with white Americans, it also was able to work along the side of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (one of its great participants was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and had an affiliation with the NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). In 1964 SNCC was responsible for some of the creation of the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party. Although the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was committed to using nonviolence to make statements regarding civil rights, after the Selma riots militancy within the group became prominent. With the help of Stokely Carmichael and Reverend H. Rap Brown, violence began to substitute the nonviolent sit-ins. Freedom Schools, however, were also brought into the SNCC community as a result to the Freedom Summer in 1965.

Origin:

• causal factors
• goals

Chronology:

• Significant events & actions
• watershed moments
• turning points and phases of the organization

Significant People:

• individuals both inside the organization and out who impacted it’s course