Power of Young People

During the civil rights movement young people played an important role in the journey to gain civil rights for blacks. They participated in sit-ins, marches, and worked to desegregate schools, libraries, and other public establishments. An example of nonviolent resistance in the United States was the Greensboro sit-in which was executed by four Greensboro students. On February 1, 1960 Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeill, and David Richmond, four Greensboro students, staged the first successful sit-in of the 1960’s civil rights movement by taking seats at a “whites only” lunch counter in Woolworth’s and asking for service. After this sit in Nashville students followed suit and staged a sit-in that used rotating protestors for when the police arrested protestors sitting at the counter. As time went on more and more sit-ins occurred. In the spring and summer of 1960, white and black youth participated in similar protests against segregated public establishments with sit-ins at white libraries, wade-ins at white beaches, and sleep-ins in the lobbies of white hotels. Students also formed a civil rights group, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The members of the organization branched out into smaller cities and towns and worked to organize local blacks, teach nonviolence, and encourage voter registration. The journey to gain civil rights for African Americans was not an easy one and to me it took way more courage for youth to participate in the demonstrations than it took for older people. The youth made a voice during the movement and they made an impact.