Desegregation Movement: The Albany Movement

The Albany Movement was a desegregation alliance that started in Albany, Georgia. This movement began on November 27, 1961, and ended the summer of 1962. This movement was the first mass movement in the modern civil rights era that set a goal to desegregate the whole community. This goal resulted in a lot of jail time. During the Albany Movement over 1,000 African Americans were placed in jail in Albany, Georgia, and the rural area. This movement challenged all forms of discrimination in the city(Branch,1988). This movement first focused on desegregating public facilities, but ended up expanding that. They began to focus on ending racism and discrimination in the city. They focused on ending racism and discrimination in libraries, governments, schools, businesses, and more.

All kinds of different groups came together to form this alliance. Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee(SNCC), Ministerial Alliance, National Association for the Advancement of color people(NAACP), Federation of Women’s Club, and Negro Voters League all came together to create this determined collation. They held boycotts, sit-ins in restaurants, and marches on the city. The first thing they performed was a sit-in at a diner that ended very peacefully. They proceeded to pray on the city

also was becoming involved in the Albany Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. also brought along SLCC. They both got involved in December 1961. The leader, William Anderson, of the Albany Movement invited him. They invited him because they wanted the movement to become nationwide. Martin Luther King Jr and many black protesters protested. Along came jail time for Martin Luther King Jr., and a lot of members of the movement(Formwalt,2003). The Albany Movement became very important in history because of Martin’s involvement. Martin Luther King Jr. later left because he failed to accomplish what he came for. Even though he viewed the movement as a failure, later came Birmingham’s