Jim Crow Laws: Plessy Vs. Ferguson US

Created for racial segregation, laws enforcing the concept of “separate but equal” were established by the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court case. Jim Crow Laws sparked the formation of the fighting youth, which were “...seeking to rid America of the scourge of racial segregation and discrimination―not only at lunch tables but in every aspect of life.”Organized nonviolent methods of protesting such as sit-ins, led by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Freedom Rides, took place. Black youth determined civil disobedience was the quickest and most successful way to desegregation. They “insisted that the focus of the struggle be nonviolent direct action in the streets, and non legal skirmishes in the courtroom.”

Employment, education, power, all that could benefit the people lied in the hands of the whites, therefore all decisions were made in favor of the whites. Protruding black stereotypes such as “Negroes breed crime”, or “Negroes tend to have less ambition”, triggered many, constructing prejudice. Therefore, Civil Rights organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1909 (NAACP), The Congress of Racial Equality, 1942 (CORE), Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1957 (SCLC), and the SNCC(1960) formed, beginning their journey towards equality. In the process of SNCC’s first few months, their development and formalization of nonviolent tactics were essential to putting an end to segregation in Southern public accommodations. These tactics involved sit-ins which were not only made up of black students, but included a few white students as well. Known as some of the most major methods of protesting throughout history, sit-ins and freedom rides sparked extreme change throughout the years for both state and local laws, and as a result led to the dismantle of Jim Crow on July 2,

It started off slowly, but protest after protest, numbers began to increase, not only in minorities but in white students as well. Another remarkable appearance for these activists is seen in the first freedom ride that occurred on May 4, 1961. This freedom ride originated in Washington, D.C., on a greyhound bus, and consisted of seven black and six white students. Their only objective was to see if the ruling in Boynton v. Virginia of unconstitutionality towards segregated rail stations, and interstate buses throughout the deep South had really been put in place. Not surprisingly, savage beatings and attacks began. The beatings and bombings, leaving riders “on the ground around the bus, coughing and bleeding” took place in the heart of the south, states such as Alabama, Louisiana, and their major cities. One of the most hard core attacks was one received once the freedom riders arrived to Montgomery, where they were met by a mob of more than 1,000 whites. Another attack took place right outside of Alabama in the city of Anniston, where white supremacists set one of the freedom riders buses on fire. The freedom riders then began to gain national support, along with support from one of the most renowned Civil Rights leaders MLK Jr., and president Robert F. Kennedy. These abominable attacks will never be justified, but were able to prove with the help of individuals willing to risk it all for