The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee exhibited a classic parent child relationship. The baby is born, you do your best to shape their minds and show them good v evil; then it happens one day that they grow up and the ideas, once known as the wisdoms of mom and dad, are suddenly reshaped by the environment surrounding them. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. along with other ministers and civil rights leaders founded the SCLC, whereas African American college students with the support of and a small donation from the SCLC founded the SNCC. Thus the idea that the SCLC the parent of the civil rights movement whilst the SNCC was looked at as the youth movement for the cause. For a time, the two organizations shared the same philosophies of especially with respect to the overall mission of both the SCLC and SNCC which was to redeem “the soul of America” through non-violence. Though sharing a common purpose, the two groups operated very differently which would perhaps play a role in the ideology which would later come from the SNCC. The SCLC operated as an umbrella organization of affiliates. Rather than seek individual members, it coordinated with the activities of local organizations like the Montgomery Improvement Association and the Nashville Christian Leadership Council. ‘‘The life-blood of SCLC movements,’’ as described in one of its pamphlets, ‘‘is in the masses of people who are involved—members of SCLC and its local affiliates and chapters’’ (This is SCLC, 1971). The success of the group’s actions was reliant on the black community wearing down the white community, especially its business, sector to the point where they pressured the white authorities for change. The SCLC used marches, protest, and demonstrations throughout the south to help further their cause. One such demonstration was the boycott of the Montgomery bus system, this boycott lead to the city losing profits on their public transportation system and eventually led to them folding to the demands of the African American citizens and desegregating the buses. SNCC used sit-ins, such as the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins, as their primary means of putting pressure on the local businesses and registering African Americans to vote in an attempt to force 3 WA 2 Congress to pass a voting rights law. Although different on the surface, both shared a common goal of desegregating the South and improving the treatment of African Americans.

The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations all were enforcers of the desegregation laws throughout the south; however some administrations were more effective than the others. Historians noted that Eisenhower did not like dealing with racial issues. Eisenhower believed that the racial situations could be solved by local communities without the federal government intervening, in particular the Executive Branch. One of the major events that happed while Eisenhower was in office was the case of Brown v Board of Education of Topeka in which segregation of public schools was declared unconstitutional. Eisenhower was not a supporter of this decision to de-segregate but was given no choice but to uphold the constitutional rights of the United States. Under the Eisenhower administration, the desegregation of the armed services was completed and two civil rights bills were enacted. As far as the desegregation of the armed forces, Eisenhower was purportedly following through on a commitment made by Truman however; the civil rights acts of 1957 and 1960 death with Negro voting rights.
The Civil Rights Movement would have a great effect throughout the Kennedy and the Johnson administrations in developing civil rights legislation. After the 1960 election, the Kennedy administration began its attack on discrimination in the U.S. In particular, The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 which prohibits discrimination was initially established by John F. Kennedy but due to his assassination was not carried out. As Eisenhower had, Kennedy also appointed Negros to major federal positions like Thurgood Marshall to Judge of Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Robert C. Weaver-Head of Housing and Home Finance Agency. Kennedy also encouraged desegregation within the Whitehouse by advising his cabinet and staff to avoid segregated facilities.
Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be left up to the Johnson administration .Johnson wanted to keep the Kennedy staff intact after the assassination, Johnson realized that if he were to change the direction that Kennedy had set in motion to deal with Civil rights the staff would not stay. An exodus at this time would have destroyed the confidence that Johnson was trying to establish. After the 1964 election, Johnson would continue to support the Civil Rights Movement with his support of the passage of the Voting Right of Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.Johnsons main contribution was the fact that he refused to compromise on the civil rights bill.

The demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 were organized with the purpose of ending segregation in the south. Some of the strategies used were boycotts of businesses and a series of sit- ins and marches which resulted in beatings and the arrest of thousands including Dr. King. In his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", Martin Luther King took the opportunity to respond in particularly to eight white clergymen who accused King agitating the local residents and not giving the city’s newly elected Mayor time to make changes. This “open letter” not only challenged the clergy’s biblical foundations of “loving thy neighbor as thyself” but it stressed importance of their moral obligations to take a stand against unjust laws. King cited blacks had waited “340 years for their constitutional and God given rights” (Letter from Birmingham (LFB)). King provides to the clergy a substantial list racial injustice that not only he but others have suffered which has resulted in anxiety, fear and rage. Kings calls out the hypocrisy of the clergy saying “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” (LFB)
Birmingham also had the nickname `Bombing-ham" because of the KKK's use of explosives, including attacks that blew up the motel where King was staying and the black church where he had his headquarters, killing four little black girls in a Sunday school class. Under these circumstances, when his people were literally being killed and his life was in danger constantly, King certainly had to struggle at times to maintain his nonviolent principles. In the end, he was successful in beginning the process of desegregation in Birmingham,

1. Were the Freedom Rides an effective tool for desegregating the interstate transportation system?
The Freedom Rides were an effective tool for desegregating the interstate transportation system because in their attempt to highlight the blatant resistance to desegregation in the south, they drew national and even international attention to their cause. What started with a group of 13 people called the “Freedom Riders” was multiplied into several hundreds who engaged in similar actions. Contrary to popular beliefs, this group was a racial mix of whites and blacks who all believed in racial equality.
Along the way, the group encountered much opposition and violence. So much, that General Robert Kennedy, the chief law enforcement officer at the time, rebuked the group labeling them unpatriotic and insisted that a “cooling off” period be give from their journey. Kennedy was met with a reply from the head of the group, James Farmer, that “"We have been cooling off for 350 years, and if we cooled off any more, we'd be in a deep freeze” (Wikipedia).The groups ultimate goal was to reach New Orleans, Louisiana on May 17, 1961 to commemorate the 7th anniversary of Brown v Board of Education decision, which ruled segregation of public schools unconstitutional.

2. What was the sit-in movement, and what was the outcome of the movement?
The sit-in-movement was one of the earliest lunch counter sit-ins of the American Civil Rights Movement started by a group of Morgan State College (now University) students and the Baltimore chapter of CORE, with intent of desegregating public facilities in the south. Historians recount that the four students walked into a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina and asked for coffee from the “whites only” counter. Upon refusal, intimidation and threats, the students waited to be served.
Soon after news of the students spread, they were joined by thousands of others. The sit-ins were to continue with the non-violent strategy endorsed by Dr.King and other civil rights groups, which was sit quietly and wait to be served. By the end of the summer over 1500 students were arrested, but the not before the world had seen the violence by whites against the students. From this movement the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was born.

3. Why was Mississippi seen as one of the most important states in the South in which to mount challenges against segregation?
It has been said that no state in the South was more resistant to the struggle for black equality and no place was more violent than Mississippi. In fact, there unprecedented determination to maintain racial segregation was so great that their efforts were referred to as an “extraordinary battle” by some. White set up citizens groups and state agencies to fight the civil rights movements. There tactics were fierce and effective for a time. Undoubtedly some of the most horrific examples of violence during the civil rights happened in Mississippi.
Perhaps the most violent and the event that forced Mississippi to end their resistance to integration was the 1962 Riot at Ole Miss (University of Mississippi in Oxford).A black student by the name of James Meredith fought and won he way into the University by which Mississisipi’s white Governor Ross Barnett, vowed to keep him out. Their strategy was to simply ignore the federal government. The Kennedy administration equipped Meredith with a round the clock detail of armed guards who were subjected to rocks, bottles and bricks on Meredith’s first day of class. In response, they released tear gas killing two and wounding more. Subsequently, Kennedy sent 30,000 more troops to escort Meredith in a display of power.
In 1988 a movie named “Mississippi Burning” was released by Orion Pictures. The movie was based on historical events related to the murders of three civil rights workers killed by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The civil rights workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were working on the “Freedom Summer” campaign when they were abducted and killed in Neshoba County, Mississippi. The goal of the Freedom Summer was to register as many blacks to vote which was prohibited prior to the Voting Right of Act of 1965.

4. Identify Medgar Evers, and briefly describe his contribution to the civil rights movement.
Medgar Evers was a black civil rights activist and field secretary for the NAACP. Evers was considered a forerunner in the struggle against segregation in the south, particularly the state of Mississippi where Evers grew up. He organized boycotts, voter registrations, marches, prayer vigils and even bailed other demonstrators out of prison. Evers was the first black man to apply to University of Mississippi and offered support to James Meredith who was later admitted to the college as the first black student. He was assassinated in 1963.

5. What was the purpose and strategy of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)?
The purpose and strategy of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was established to force integration of the all white state Democratic Party. The MFDP was initially part of the Freedom Summer project designed to register blacks to vote. However; after they were met with much resistance, the MFDP became an entity of its own. The blacks in Mississippi were often stopped from voting and were never allowed to join the state’s Democratic Party would not allow blacks to join. This led to the creation of the “Freedom Ballot” which allowed blacks to cast their votes using a simple, alternate process of signing up party supporters that did not require blacks to openly defy whites by trying to register at the courthouse or take a complex and unfair literacy test.

Works Cited www.History.com. 10 Things You Should Know About Brown v. Board of Education http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-should-know-about-brown-v-board-of-education [04-17-15] http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/99175370.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Riders

References
The Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader: Documents, Speeches and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle, 1954–1990, ed. Clayborne Carson et al. (New York: Penguin, 1991).

Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s through the 1980s, by Henry Hampton and Steve Fayer (New York: Bantam Books, 1991).

Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954–1965, by Juan Williams (New York: Penguin, 1988)

Wikipedia. Jim Crow Laws. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws#Racism_in_the_United_States_and_defenses_of_Jim_Crow
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Www. Archives.Gov. Documents related to Brown v. Board of Education http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown-v-board/bios.html [04-17-15] www.History.com. 10 Things You Should Know About Brown v. Board of Education http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-should-know-about-brown-v-board-of-education [04-17-15] www.standford.edu. Encyclopedia. http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_montgomery_bus_boycott_1955_1956/
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