SNCC

2 Pages 603 Words

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee became one of the most influential groups of the Civil Rights era. Through their efforts of making a difference at the grassroots level, SNCC’s membership was able to make changes that were not often noticed in the national stage, but in the personal lives of those oppressed in the Deep South. The members of SNCC were real people seeking to make real social change. During this time of change, the members of the SNCC allowed white people into their organization and in the end, was proven to be a vital aspect of their demise.
The 1964 Freedom Summer was a violent summer, and by its end, SNCC was left in a near state of disarray. Thousands of volunteers had been mobilized, hundreds had been arrested, a few had been killed, and permanent staff members were overworked and short-tempered. SNCC had grown bigger than anyone had dreamed it would, and the time had come to assess the group's direction and focus. One issue that needed to be addressed was whether SNCC was going to embrace other issues of injustice, or continue devoting itself to the single goal of Black liberation. “Veteran SNCC workers rejected the use of white organizers in black communities on the grounds that this hindered the development of feelings of self-confidence among blacks (Carson, 299)”.
Furthermore, the Summer Project was considered a success. Nevertheless, the tensions experienced left their mark on those involved, and ‘the summer marked the end of SNCC’s efforts to encourage white participation. However, whites continued to take
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an interest, and SNCC welcomed nearly 80 whites who wished to stay on in Mississippi as full members. Although the idea of the ‘beloved community’ did not survive within SNCC, other organizations, notably SCLC, continued to promote white participation.
On the surface, white participation was a natural phenomenon in a movement dedicated to integration in the light of ...