The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights struggles in the 1960s raged far before and far after the issue was brought to public eye. The segregation of African Americans kept the races separated be it at school, the supermarket, or even a simple water fountain. A few brave men and women of the day banded together in the hopes of a future that is truly equal among all, regardless of skin color. One of these brave men was Cleveland Sellers, born in 1944, who became a leader and motivator for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He lived through the life and death of SNCC, the popularization of Black Power, and other major events that shaped civil rights. His struggle allows historians today to see the real, down and dirty life of a black militant in

the 1960s.

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee evolved from an idea to a powerful network of likeminded individuals. The idea started after the sit-in at Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina; four students from A & T protested segregation by sitting at a ‘white only’ lunch counter. This inspired 15-year-old Cleveland Seller to help organize a similar event in his hometown of Denmark, South Carolina. This was the idea that started the SNCC in later years. Similar protests were organized over the coming years but students lacked the communication to coordinate until Ella Baker, who worked for Martin Luther King Jr., set up a rally on her old college campus one spring break, “over three hundred students attended the conference. Two hundred more than we expected (Seller & Terrell, 1990)” The sporadic movements came together to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, of which Cleveland Seller began working for in his summer of 1964. This organization evolved into a coordinating committee to a full-on grassroots organization. Although they mostly worked on lunch-counter movements they

began to branch out in later years. Many volunteers helped register African American voters in the South regardless of the extreme negative response from local white supremacist groups. Many volunteers, locals, and supporter’s lives were lost in the rage of the South. Many were badly beaten or hospitalized while African American businesses and homes were bombed and decimated. Around this time, the need for another response besides the SNCC came to light. The SNCC was good for small protests and support but with all the violence something stronger needed to be introduced. Black Power took the African American community by storm and even influenced the SNCC where things began to change, regardless of Seller’s appointment to elected program director in 1965.
The primary factions in the SNCC, Freedom Highs and Hard-liners, split in 1966 when the Freedom High faction believed the Hard-liners were controlling the committee in an authoritarian manner. The hard-liners stayed course with the SNCC and later the slogan ‘Black Power’ came to fruition from the faction led organization. “There was widespread agreement that it was time for SNCC to begin building independent, black political organization (Sellers & Terrell, 1990).”.” Sellers goes on to explain how the SNCC needed to change its view points as segregation was not the biggest issue it was integration. With this new understanding and need for new ideas the SNCC developed ‘Black Power’ to motivate the African American community to fight back and become involved in their own civil rights. This developed into Black Consciousness and the excommunication of all white members of the SNCC. The hard-liners wanted a strong front to come off as being able to rise above it all without the help of white supporters. The Greenwood demonstrations and marches truly publicized Black Power through the nightly speeches given by McKissick, Dr. King, Willie Ricks, and Stokely. One of Stokely’s speeches, after an unjust imprisonment, created “What we gonna start saying now is Black Power [said Stokely] BLACK POWER! They roared in unison (Sellers & Terrell, 1990).” Suddenly ‘Black Power’ became a unifying chant among the crowd. The SNCC was still a bit doubtful on introducing their new slogan but the results placated the naysayers. With thousands of new voters and new interest in the movement the results far outweighed the action. The new friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and the SNCC was highly beneficial as well.
There are many important interactions during the civil rights movement but some of the major events Seller covers truly brings the movement to light. “The Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, the historic march in Selma, the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, and The Murders of the Civil Rights Activists in Mississippi (Sellers & Terrell, 1990)” all were detailed by Seller in his hope to describe the troubles in 1960 as accurately as possible. The Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 was revolutionary as white college students went to Mississippi to help resister African Americans to vote. Another benefit was the Freedom school were adults could learn about their history and voting rights, while children received a basic education. The march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama’s capitol, was a three-part march that encouraged the African American community to vote, demonstrate their rights, and show a displeasure towards segregation. This act can be attributed to helping pass the Voting Rights Act later in that year. A vigil was kept outside of the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City to protest African American’s lack of civil rights, right to vote, and inability to attend meetings. This act allowed for a future law to be passed banning racial discrimination and allowing a diverse delegation at the Democratic Convention. A truly tragic event as the murders of three civil rights activists in Mississippi became a national outrage after the KKK and two state police departments were eventually found guilty and given small sentences for the murder. However, this horrid event came with a silver lining as it pushed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 forward to be passed. Each major event that Seller covered showed the tragic back story and lasting effects of the civil rights movement and how a small group can change the nation.
Historians can see the emotions and causation behind the interactions and events through Seller’s autobiography. The major events that lead to revolutionary change are not just statistics but people who have motivations and hope. With each event comes others being motivated to the cause and believing that they can change something for the better. The autobiography is extensive and personal in that it is not just dates, places, and people but emotions and motivation, and revenge. Historians who take the telling of Seller all for a more detailed point of view into the organizations and inspirational events that changed the path of the civil rights movement. Furthermore, a personal recollection of the events can allow for a deeper understanding of a leader’s motivation, the reality behind the violence, and how the people felt about the everyday actions behind the movement.
The Civil Rights struggle in the 1960s was a harsh and long road that is beautifully detailed by Cleveland Seller in The River of No Return. He takes the reader through his transitions and beliefs about how the nation was growing or lack thereof. His aspects of the SNCC showed a deep seeded passion for the movement and the dirty truth behind the ever-changing committee. Personal experiences highlighted the reality of the pages and brought the harsh truths to the surface. Where major events are normally written as emotionless statistics they had depth and understanding of the motivation and consequences that either helped or hindered the civil rights movement. A new understanding of the origin behind Black Power allowed for a clearer understanding of what the new SNCC truly stood for. Historians can use this text to justify and rectify past assumptions that needed a first-person account to correctly categorize in history. This text reveals the dark undertones, passion and motivations behind previously statistic like facts. A real account brings honesty and integrity to the struggles the civil rights movement stood for. The River of No Return reveals more than just the struggle but the dedication behind the civil rights movement of 1960.