City of Greensboro
157-573: City of Monroe City of New Bern Other localities The Royal Ice Cream sit-in was a nonviolent protest in Durham, North Carolina , that led to a court case on the legality of segregated facilities. The demonstration took place on June 23, 1957 when a group of African American protesters, led by Reverend Douglas E. Moore , entered the Royal Ice Cream Parlor and sat in the section reserved for white patrons. When asked to move,
314-504: A fruitarian diet so as to avoid the destruction of plants. Scholars claim the principles of ecological non-violence is innate in the Hindu tradition, and its conceptual fountain has been Ahimsa as their cardinal virtue. The dharmic philosophy of ancient India exists in all Indian languages and culture. For example, the Tirukkuṛaḷ , written between 200 BCE and 500 CE, and sometimes called
471-551: A two-by-four to get his attention. Well, it got his attention all right." After he was reinstated, King prepared a four-year plan outlining a stronger direction for the organization, agreeing to dismiss McMorris and announcing plans to present a strong challenge to the George W. Bush administration in an August convention in Montgomery, Alabama . He also planned to concentrate on racial profiling, prisoners' rights, and closing
628-427: A 1957 interview, Moore maintained that the sit-in had not been a planned protest, stating: "we went to the ice cream parlor for ice cream, nothing else." However, a later source indicates that Moore may have deliberately chosen Royal Ice Cream as a protest venue because of its location in a predominantly black neighborhood; this source quotes him thusly: "I thought I could isolate them in the black community." Sparked by
785-732: A Graham crusade in New York City in 1957. Despite tactical differences, which arose from Graham's willingness to continue affiliating himself with segregationists, the SCLC and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association had similar ambitions and Graham would privately advise the SCLC. During its early years, SCLC struggled to gain footholds in black churches and communities across the South. Social activism in favor of racial equality faced fierce repression from
942-595: A March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. On July 2, 1963, King, Randolph, and Rustin met with James Farmer Jr. of the Congress of Racial Equality , John Lewis of SNCC , Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, and Whitney Young of the Urban League to plan a united march on August 28. The media and political establishment viewed the march with great fear and trepidation over the possibility that protesters would run riot in
1099-403: A boycott of the ice cream parlor. However, several committee members questioned the approach, because the owner of Royal Ice Cream Parlor, Louis Coletta, was an Italian Immigrant. Even Rev. Moore himself, who supported the boycott proposal, admitted that Coletta was "a member of a minority group" and that his parlor might not be the ideal target. Although DCNA and other organizations did not back up
1256-413: A commemorative marker. That year, a marker was placed at the site with the inscription: "ROYAL ICE CREAM SIT-IN: Segregation protest at an ice cream parlor on this site, June 23, 1957, led to court case testing dual racial facilities." Nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or
1413-574: A controversy within the black community in Durham, because the young activists threatened the delicate balance that had been cautiously maintained by the leadership of DCNA. Other well-established organizations such as Durham's black Ministerial Alliance and the Durham NAACP also criticized Moore's "radical" efforts. At that time, the local NAACP was still fighting for a prolonged legal struggle against Durham's school segregation, and worried that losing
1570-409: A hierarchy of life. Mobile beings are given higher protection than immobile ones. For the mobile beings, they distinguish between one-sensed, two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed and five-sensed ones; a one-sensed animal has touch as its only sensory modality. The more senses a being has, the more they care about non-injuring it. Among the five-sensed beings, the precept of non-injury and non-violence to
1727-413: A historical figure, followed by Parshvanatha (Pārśvanātha) the twenty-third Tirthankara lived in about the 8th century BCE. He founded the community to which Mahavira's parents belonged. Ahimsa was already part of the "Fourfold Restraint" ( Caujjama ), the vows taken by Parshva's followers. In the times of Mahavira and in the following centuries, Jains were at odds with both Buddhists and followers of
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#17327917445801884-430: A human being can ever live his or her life without harming animal and plant life in some way; which and when plants or animal meat may be eaten, whether violence against animals causes human beings to become less compassionate, and if and how one may exert least harm to non-human life consistent with ahimsa precept, given the constraints of life and human needs. The Mahabharata permits hunting by warriors, but opposes it in
2041-477: A hunter defends his profession in a long discourse. Many of the arguments proposed in favor of non-violence to animals refer to the bliss one feels, the rewards it entails before or after death, the danger and harm it prevents, as well as to the karmic consequences of violence. The ancient Hindu texts discuss Ahimsa and non-animal life. They discourage wanton destruction of nature including of wild and cultivated plants. Hermits ( sannyasins ) were urged to live on
2198-732: A level of institutional recognition and endorsement at the global level. On November 10, 1998, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the first decade of the 21st century and the third millennium, the years 2001 to 2010, as the International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World . The nonviolence approach involves accepting that violence
2355-640: A marker at the Royal Ice Cream Parlor site. Initially, North Carolina's Highway Historic Marker Committee maintained that the Royal Ice Cream Sit-in "did not have enough significance." Durham citizens, however, felt that the event was central to the city's civil rights history. In 2007, the NC Highway Historic Marker Committee reversed its previous position, acknowledging the importance of the Sit-in, and approving
2512-566: A mass of students to take initiatives in concrete actions, and these sentiments paved road for future movements. The continuation of the sit-ins and other forms of non-violent resistance eventually succeeded. In 1960, the Mayor's Committee on Human Relations revealed a planned program for desegregation of Durham lunch counters and Durham officially became the seventh town in North Carolina to integrate its lunch counter service. Desegregation
2669-713: A moral sense, is in the Kapisthala Katha Samhita of the Yajurveda (KapS 31.11), which may have been written in about the 8th century BCE. Bowker states the word appears but is uncommon in the principal Upanishads. Kaneda gives examples of the word Ahimsa in these Upanishads. Other scholars suggest Ahimsa as an ethical concept that started evolving in the Vedas, becoming an increasingly central concept in Upanishads. The Chāndogya Upaniṣad , dated to
2826-483: A national scale. The sit-in also encouraged leaders to organize "local movement centers" that encouraged coordination among civil rights activists across the Southeast. As noted above, local activists like Moore had been developing "direct action" organizations throughout the South during the 1950s. But since the Royal Ice Cream Sit-in, Moore realized the importance of alliances between these black "movement centers" in
2983-400: A popular education effort on a massive scale. On top of these 10,000 teachers, citizenship schools reached and taught more than 25,000 people. By 1968, over 700,000 African Americans became registered voters thanks to Clark's dedication to the movement. As a result of the SCLC acquiring the already-established Citizenship Schools program, as its director, Clark became the first woman allowed
3140-524: A position on the SCLC board, despite continued resistance from the other (exclusively male) SCLC leaders. Andrew Young , who had joined Highlander the previous year to work with the Citizenship Schools, also joined the SCLC staff. The SCLC staff of citizenship schools were overwhelmingly women, as a result of the daily experience gained by becoming a teacher. Clark would struggle against relentless sexism and male supremacy during her time on
3297-790: A powerful tool for social protest and revolutionary social and political change. There are many examples of their use. Fuller surveys may be found in the entries on civil resistance , nonviolent resistance and nonviolent revolution . Certain movements which were particularly influenced by a philosophy of nonviolence have included Mahatma Gandhi 's leadership of a successful decades-long nonviolent struggle for Indian independence , Martin Luther King Jr. 's and James Bevel 's adoption of Gandhi's nonviolent methods in their Civil rights movement campaigns to remove legalized segregation in America, and César Chávez 's campaigns of nonviolence in
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#17327917445803454-443: A pragmatic justification, in that the technique of separating the deeds from the doers allows for the possibility of the doers changing their behaviour, and perhaps their beliefs. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, "Nonviolent resistance... avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he also refuses to hate him." Nonviolence has obtained
3611-546: A result of violence: Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) is an African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta , Georgia . SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr. , who had a large role in the American civil rights movement . On January 10, 1957, following the Montgomery bus boycott victory against
3768-510: A specific context while advocating violence in other contexts. For example, someone who passionately opposes abortion or meat eating may concurrently advocate violence to kill an abortion care provider or attack a slaughterhouse, which makes that person a violent person. Nonviolence or ahimsa is one of the cardinal virtues and an important tenet of Jainism , Buddhism , and Hinduism . Jain and Buddhist thoughts have explored nonviolence very deeply, not limiting it to humans but extending it to
3925-562: A stagnation that is beginning to creep over the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs which, if allowed to continue, is certain to spell its doom…. The DCNA is becoming too high-brow, too soft and too compromising." Austin continued in this editorial to call for "new blood, new faces and new ideas". Rev. Douglas E. Moore , a pastor at the Asbury Temple United Methodists Church, had been active in
4082-446: A student of Gandhian nonviolent resistance, concurred with this tenet, concluding that "nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek." Proponents of nonviolence reason that the actions taken in the present inevitably re-shape the social order in like form. They would argue, for instance, that it is fundamentally irrational to use violence to achieve a peaceful society. Respect or love for opponents also has
4239-500: Is a profusion of ideas about the virtue of Ahimsa when applied to non-human life, but without a universal consensus. Alsdorf claims the debate and disagreements between supporters of vegetarian lifestyle and meat eaters was significant. Even suggested exceptions – ritual slaughter and hunting – were challenged by advocates of Ahimsa. In the Mahabharata both sides present various arguments to substantiate their viewpoints. Moreover,
4396-473: Is captured in a 2008 documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell . The term "nonviolence" is often linked with peace or it is used as a synonym for it, and despite the fact that it is frequently equated with pacifism , this equation is rejected by nonviolent advocates and activists. Nonviolence specifically refers to the absence of violence and it is always the choice to do no harm or the choice to do
4553-483: Is considered hiṃsā (to injure) and abstaining from such an act is ahimsā (noninjury). The vow of ahimsā is considered the foremost among the 'five vows of Jainism'. Other vows like truth (Satya) are meant for safeguarding the vow of ahimsā. In the practice of Ahimsa, the requirements are less strict for the lay persons ( sravakas ) who have undertaken anuvrata (Smaller Vows) than for the Jain monastics who are bound by
4710-534: Is increasingly refined and emphasised, ultimately Ahimsa becomes the highest virtue by the late Vedic era (about 500 BCE). For example, hymn 10.22.25 in the Rig Veda uses the words Satya (truthfulness) and Ahimsa in a prayer to deity Indra; later, the Yajur Veda dated to be between 1000 BCE and 600 BCE, states, "may all beings look at me with a friendly eye, may I do likewise, and may we look at each other with
4867-664: Is justice denied." We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The most dramatic moments of the Birmingham campaign came on May 2, when, under the direction and leadership of James Bevel , who would soon officially become SCLC's Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education, more than 1,000 Black children left school to join the demonstrations; hundreds were arrested. The following day, 2,500 more students joined and were met by Bull Connor with police dogs and high-pressure fire hoses. That evening, television news programs reported to
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5024-463: Is like injury caused by deliberate action. Eating honey is strictly outlawed, as it would amount to violence against the bees. Some Jains abstain from farming because it inevitably entails unintentional killing or injuring of many small animals, such as worms and insects, but agriculture is not forbidden in general and there are Jain farmers. Theoretically, all life forms are said to deserve full protection from all kinds of injury, but Jains recognise
5181-413: Is more liberal than what you would expect in a Southern state," according to Durham native and civil rights leader Pauli Murray . In Durham, racial conflicts were arguably less severe than in other Southern towns and African Americans enjoyed more opportunities, including in the city's many tobacco plants. Prominent leaders established their own businesses and developed a prosperous black neighborhood called
5338-597: Is part of the Five Precepts ( Pañcasīla ), the first of which has been to abstain from killing. This precept of Ahimsa is applicable to both the Buddhist layperson and the monk community. The Ahimsa precept is not a commandment and transgressions did not invite religious sanctions for layperson, but their power has been in the Buddhist belief in karmic consequences and their impact in afterlife during rebirth. Killing, in Buddhist belief, could lead to rebirth in
5495-627: Is seen as inevitable, and the rejection of violence is an effective way to challenge power. Those who follow pragmatic nonviolence ideology are willing to engage in nonviolent coercion, and try to avoid suffering. Nicolas Walter noted the idea that nonviolence might work "runs under the surface of Western political thought without ever quite disappearing". Walter noted Étienne de La Boétie 's Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (sixteenth century) and P.B. Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy (1819) contain arguments for resisting tyranny without using violence. In 1838, William Lloyd Garrison helped found
5652-572: Is speculative, and though Jainism is an ancient tradition the oldest traceable texts of Jainism tradition are from many centuries after the Vedic era ended. Chāndogya Upaniṣad also names Ahimsa, along with Satyavacanam (truthfulness), Arjavam (sincerity), Danam (charity), Tapo (penance/meditation), as one of five essential virtues (CU 3.17.4). The Sandilya Upanishad lists ten forbearances: Ahimsa , Satya, Asteya, Brahmacharya, Daya, Arjava, Kshama, Dhriti, Mitahara and Saucha. According to Kaneda,
5809-449: Is that evil-doers who deserve death should be killed, and that a king in particular is obliged to punish criminals and should not hesitate to kill them, even if they happen to be his own brothers and sons. Other scholars conclude that the scriptures of Hinduism suggest sentences for any crime must be fair, proportional and not cruel. The Hindu precept of 'cause no injury' applies to animals and all life forms. This precept isn't found in
5966-499: Is the highest virtue , Ahimsa is the highest self-control, Ahimsa is the greatest gift, Ahimsa is the best suffering, Ahimsa is the highest sacrifice, Ahimsa is the finest strength, Ahimsa is the greatest friend, Ahimsa is the greatest happiness, Ahimsa is the highest truth, and Ahimsa is the greatest teaching. Some other examples where the phrase Ahimsa Paramo Dharma are discussed include Adi Parva , Vana Parva and Anushasana Parva . The Bhagavad Gita , among other things, discusses
6123-462: Is the highest moral virtue. For example, Mahaprasthanika Parva has the verse: अहिंसा परमो धर्मस् तथाहिंसा परो दमः। अहिंसा परमं दानम् अहिंसा परमस् तपः। अहिंसा परमो यज्ञस् तथाहिंसा परं बलम्। अहिंसा परमं मित्रम् अहिंसा परमं सुखम्। अहिंसा परमं सत्यम् अहिंसा परमं श्रुतम्॥ The above passage from Mahabharata emphasises the cardinal importance of Ahimsa in Hinduism, and literally means: Ahimsa
6280-426: Is wrong and nonviolence is the best ethical response to any conflict. The followers of this approach believe in human harmony and a moral rejection of violence and coercion. They accept the total commitment to nonviolence and encourage those who want to use nonviolent actions to reject all forms of violence and coercion. Principled nonviolence has a religious or ideological basis. This type of nonviolence aims to change
6437-469: The Hayti District , which had its own store, theaters, restaurants and hospital. However, as in much of the South, Jim Crow laws were still rooted in Durham, with segregation resulting in inferior facilities and housing, fewer employment opportunities for African Americans. Separated by the city's railroad tracks, black and white neighborhoods contrasted greatly in standards of living. In Durham,
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6594-517: The Albany Movement , a broad protest against segregation in Albany, Georgia . It is generally considered the organization's first major nonviolent campaign. At the time, it was considered by many to be unsuccessful: despite large demonstrations and many arrests, few changes were won, and the protests drew little national attention. Yet, despite the lack of immediate gains, much of the success of
6751-575: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had outlawed segregation of public facilities, the law had not been applied in Grenada which still maintained rigid segregation. After black students were arrested for trying to sit downstairs in the "white" section of the movie theater, SCLC and the GCFM demanded that all forms of segregation be eliminated, and called for a boycott of white merchants. Over the summer,
6908-527: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) instructed its program " COINTELPRO " to "neutralize" what the FBI called "black nationalist hate groups" and other dissident groups. The initial targets included Martin Luther King Jr. and others associated with the SCLC. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, leadership was transferred to Ralph Abernathy , who presided until 1977. Abernathy
7065-578: The Mahavrata "Great Vows". The statement ahimsā paramo dharmaḥ is often found inscribed on the walls of the Jain temples . Like in Hinduism, the aim is to prevent the accumulation of harmful karma. When lord Mahaviraswami revived and reorganized the Jain faith in the 6th or 5th century BCE, Rishabhanatha (Ādinātha), the first Jain Tirthankara , whom modern Western historians consider to be
7222-754: The Montgomery Improvement Association and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR). This organizational form differed from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) who recruited individuals and formed them into local chapters. The organization also drew inspiration from the crusades of evangelist Billy Graham , who befriended King after he appeared at
7379-526: The New England Non-Resistance Society , a society devoted to achieving racial and gender equality through the rejection of all violent actions. In modern industrial democracies, nonviolent action has been used extensively by political sectors without mainstream political power such as labor, peace, environment and women's movements. Lesser known is the role that nonviolent action has played and continues to play in undermining
7536-722: The Satyagraha movement with the Gujarati/Hindi term ahimsa (અહિંસા/अहिंसा) only after 1915. Furthermore, Gandhi started adopting the English term "nonviolence" only after the Rowlatt Satyagraha in 1919. Before Gandhi, scholars of Oriental studies translated the Sanskrit term ahimsa as "non-killing" or "non-injury," but never as "non-violence." Thus, "nonviolence" represents a modern concept that emerged in
7693-581: The Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia , the Citizenship Schools focused on teaching adults to read so they could pass the voter-registration literacy tests , fill out driver's license exams, use mail-order forms, and open checking accounts. Under the auspices of the Highlander Folk School (now Highlander Research and Education Center ) the program was expanded across the South. The Johns Island Citizenship School
7850-561: The Tamil Veda , is one of the most cherished classics written in a South Indian language. The Tirukkuṛaḷ dedicates Chapters 26, 32 and 33 of Book 1 to the virtue of ahimsa, namely, moral vegetarianism , non-harming , and non-killing , respectively. The Tirukkuṛaḷ says that ahimsa applies to all life forms. In Jainism, the understanding and implementation of Ahimsā is more radical, scrupulous, and comprehensive than in any other religion. Killing any living being out of passions
8007-649: The Tirukkuṛaḷ , which is believed to be of Hindu or Jain origin, decrees ahimsa and moral vegetarianism as the most fundamental of all personal virtues. These ideas can also be found in Western mystical and Neoplatonic traditions. In modern times, several scholars have endeavored to clarify the theoretical intellectual foundations for principled nonviolence and the manner in which such principles might be implemented in practical terms. Included among them are Kevin P. Clements and Robert L. Holmes . Mahatma Gandhi
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#17327917445808164-756: The non-cooperation campaign for Indian independence led by Mahatma Gandhi , the Civil Rights Movement in the United States , and the People Power Revolution in the Philippines . Also of primary significance is the notion that just means are the most likely to lead to just ends. When Gandhi said that "the means may be likened to the seed, the end to a tree," he expressed the philosophical kernel of what some refer to as prefigurative politics . Martin Luther King Jr.,
8321-601: The 1960s to protest the treatment of Mexican farm workers in California . The 1989 " Velvet Revolution " in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the Communist government is considered one of the most important of the largely nonviolent Revolutions of 1989 . Most recently the nonviolent campaigns of Leymah Gbowee and the women of Liberia were able to achieve peace after a 14-year civil war. This story
8478-547: The 8th or 7th century BCE, one of the oldest Upanishads , has the earliest evidence for the Vedic era use of the word Ahimsa in the sense familiar in Hinduism (a code of conduct). It bars violence against "all creatures" ( sarvabhuta ) and the practitioner of Ahimsa is said to escape from the cycle of rebirths (CU 8.15.1). Some scholars state that this 8th or 7th-century BCE mention may have been an influence of Jainism on Vedic Hinduism. Others scholar state that this relationship
8635-634: The Durham Recorder's Court the following day, the protesters were convicted of trespassing and fined 10 dollars each plus court costs. They were represented by William A.("Billy") Marsh Jr., a Durham Civil Rights attorney. They immediately appealed the case to the Durham County Superior Court. On July 16, 1957, after a 24-minute deliberation, the all-white jury of the Superior Court upheld the guilty verdict and fined
8792-746: The Gandhian era, there was only one recorded instance, almost coincidental, of the term "nonviolence" being used as a political concept, which appeared in a Wisconsin newspaper published in 1914. The term spread globally during India's first Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922) , gaining recognition as a distinct concept. E. Hazama conducted the first comprehensive analysis of Gandhi's writings in three languages (Gujarati, Hindi, and English) from three versions of Gandhi's Collected Works: Gāndhījīnō Aksharadēha (ગાંધીજીનો અક્ષરદેહ), Sampūrn Gāndhī Vāngmay (सम्पूर्ण गाँधी वांग्मय), and Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi . This analysis revealed that Gandhi began linking
8949-696: The Highlander staff reincorporated as the Highlander Research and Education Center and moved to Knoxville . Under the innocuous cover of adult-literacy classes, the schools secretly taught democracy and civil rights, community leadership and organizing, practical politics, and the strategies and tactics of resistance and struggle, and in so doing built the human foundations of the mass community struggles to come. Eventually, close to 69,000 teachers, most of them unpaid volunteers and many with little formal education taught Citizenship Schools throughout
9106-410: The Royal Ice Cream Parlor, under the direction of Floyd McKissick. The students refused to place their hopes in the protracted process of seeking justice in the courts. Nor did they trust the slow and quiet diplomacy adopted by the black elites. The Royal Ice Cream Sit-in spread the idea of direct action among Durham's black students. Though it did not immediately initiate subversion, the sit-in encouraged
9263-473: The Royal Ice Cream incident, local protests continued in and around Durham for years, mainly led and inspired by Rev. Moore and Floyd McKissick , a black attorney and prominent community leader. They also began a six-year struggle to integrate the parlor. This struggle culminated in 1963, when Coletta sold the business and Royal Ice Cream became integrated. This first attempt at desegregation provoked
9420-595: The SCLC, much as Ella Baker had, with particularly harsh sexism emanating from Martin Luther King Jr. himself. Ralph Abernathy also objected to a woman being allowed to participate in SCLC decision making and leadership, as Clark said: "I can remember Reverend Abernathy asking many times, why was Septima Clark on the Executive Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference? And Dr. King would always say, 'She
9577-464: The Semai believe that as Malaysia industrialises, it will be harder for the Semai to use their strategy of fleeing and they will have to fight instead. Ahimsa as an ethical concept evolved in Vedic texts . The oldest scripts, along with discussing ritual animal sacrifices, indirectly mention Ahimsa, but do not emphasise it. Over time, the Hindu scripts revise ritual practices and the concept of Ahimsa
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#17327917445809734-569: The Semai's non-violence is a response to historic threats from slaving states; as the Semai were constantly defeated by slavers and Malaysian immigrants, they preferred to flee rather than fight and thus evolved into a general norm of non-violence. This does not mean the Semai are incapable of violence however; during the Malayan Emergency , the British enlisted some Semai to fight against MNLA insurgents and according to Robert Knox Dentan
9891-507: The South to organize their congregations and local communities for collective protest. Around this time, Rev. Moore was rallying a group of young activists called "ACT", which included the Royal Ice Cream Sit-in participants. They met Sunday afternoons at Asbury Temple United Methodist Church, where Moore served as pastor, to talk about how to "push the envelope of Jim Crow’s Law." At approximately 6:45PM on June 23, 1957, Rev. Moore led seven attendees from his Sunday session at Ashbury United into
10048-543: The South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. ... Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. We readily consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here. King also addressed
10205-401: The South. Many of the Civil Rights Movement 's adult leaders such as Fannie Lou Hamer and Victoria Gray , and hundreds of other local leaders in black communities across the South attended and taught citizenship schools. Under the leadership of Clark, the citizenship school project trained over 10,000 citizenship schoolteachers who led citizenship schools throughout the South, representing
10362-597: The South. Moore and McKissick began planning a nationwide sit-in movement that would start from Durham. During that time, they contacted activists in other "movement centers" throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, urging them to train students for sit-ins. After the Greensboro sit-ins, activists contacted their counterparts in other cities, assessing their readiness for action; for example, on February 3, 1960, Moore spoke with Nashville civil rights activist James M. Lawson, urging him to speed his efforts toward
10519-596: The Southeast. In 1896, the United States Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation of public facilities under the doctrine of " separate but equal ". The separation in practice led to inferior conditions for African Americans, especially in the Southern states. Meanwhile, Durham had a reputation throughout the South as a "unique town… that
10676-558: The Vedic religion or Hindus, whom they accused of negligence and inconsistency in the implementation of Ahimsa. According to the Jain tradition either lacto vegetarianism or veganism is mandatory. The Jain concept of Ahimsa is characterised by several aspects. It does not make any exception for ritual sacrificers and professional warrior-hunters. Killing of animals for food is absolutely ruled out. Jains also make considerable efforts not to injure plants in everyday life as far as possible. Though they admit that plants must be destroyed for
10833-405: The animal world as well as nature, in a very explicit fashion. In Jainism, it is the very core idea of very 'way of life' practicing it in mun (thoughts), vachan (spoken word) and karm (action). It is a multidimensional concept, inspired by the premise that all living beings have the spark of the divine spiritual energy; therefore, to hurt another being is to hurt oneself. It has also been related to
10990-418: The attacker, and avoid the conflict. The best defence is one where the victim is protected, as well as the attacker is respected and not injured if possible. Under Ahimsa and Aikido, there are no enemies, and appropriate self-defence focuses on neutralising the immaturity, assumptions and aggressive strivings of the attacker. Tähtinen concludes that Hindus have no misgivings about death penalty; their position
11147-413: The audience. Although both principled and pragmatic nonviolent approaches preach for nonviolence, they may have distinct motives, goals, philosophies, and techniques. However, rather than debating the best practice between the two approaches, both can indicate alternative paths for those who do not want to use violence. Nonviolence has "active" or "activist" elements, in that believers generally accept
11304-571: The black children until public pressure and a Federal court order finally forced Mississippi lawmen to intervene. By the end of the first week, many black parents had withdrawn their children from the white schools out of fear for their safety, but approximately 150 black students continued to attend, still the largest school integration in state history at that point in time. Inside the schools, blacks were harassed by white teachers, threatened and attacked by white students, and many blacks were expelled on flimsy pretexts by school officials. By mid-October,
11461-509: The case might set a dangerous legal precedent and also divert the organization's energy. In brief, the more experienced black leaders in Durham viewed the sit-in as a premature and risky act led by a radical, young outsider. Despite all these initial doubts, the 1957 sit-in sparked within the Durham black community a serious debate on strategies for future protests. The Durham Committee on Negro Affairs’ Economic Committee, headed by Floyd McKissick and Nathaniel White Sr., discussed whether to launch
11618-551: The case of hermits who must be strictly nonviolent. Sushruta Samhita , a Hindu text written in the 3rd or 4th century, in Chapter XLVI suggests proper diet as a means of treating certain illnesses, and recommends various fishes and meats for different ailments and for pregnant women, and the Charaka Samhita describes meat as superior to all other kinds of food for convalescents. Across the texts of Hinduism, there
11775-423: The church in relation to community-building, stating: "The church was functioning as the institutional vanguard of a mass based black movement". Long before the Royal Ice Cream Sit-in, community leaders such as Moore began to form alliances in order to promote a national movement. Using the church as an organizational base, they started to train young activists to be "professional" non-violent protesters. This practice
11932-430: The context of Gandhi's political movement. In the political realm, advocates of nonviolent action believe cooperation and consent are the roots of civil or political power: all regimes, including bureaucratic institutions, financial institutions, and the armed segments of society (such as the military and police); depend on compliance from citizens. On a national level, the strategy of nonviolent action seeks to challenge
12089-536: The courthouse, where many of them were abused and arrested by Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark — a staunch segregationist. Black voter applicants were subjected to economic retaliation by the White Citizens' Council , and threatened with physical violence by the Ku Klux Klan . Officials used the discriminatory literacy test to keep blacks off the voter rolls. Nonviolent mass marches demanded
12246-546: The courts and that direct action excited white resistance, hostility, and violence. Traditionally, leadership in black communities came from the educated elite—ministers, professionals, teachers, etc.—who spoke for and on behalf of the laborers, maids, farmhands, and working poor who made up the bulk of the black population. Many of these traditional leaders were uneasy about involving ordinary blacks in mass activity such as boycotts and marches. SCLC's belief that churches should be involved in political activism against social ills
12403-580: The desegregation movement in Durham during the 1950s. Prior to the sit-in, he had petitioned the City Council for an end to segregation at Durham Public Library and the Carolina Theater. On June 13, 1957, he and his family attempted to gain admission to the all-white Long Meadow Park swimming pool. When they were denied, he immediately appealed unsuccessfully to city recreation officers. Rev. Moore studied Theology at Boston University, where he
12560-410: The desegregation of Woolworth . That spring, sit-ins took place across the Southern states. In 1960, Moore famously attested to the seriousness of the sit-in movement with the statement: "If Woolworth and other stores think that this is just another panty raid, they haven't had their sociologists in the field recently." The Royal Ice Cream Sit-in was largely overshadowed by the later Greensboro sit-ins,
12717-496: The digital divide between whites and blacks. However, King also suggested in a statement that the group needed a different approach than it had used in the past, stating, "We must not allow our lust for 'temporal gratification' to blind us from making difficult decisions to effect future generations." Martin Luther King III resigned in 2004, upon which Fred Shuttlesworth was elected to replace him. Shuttlesworth resigned
12874-530: The doubts and questions about appropriate response when one faces systematic violence or war. These verses develop the concepts of lawful violence in self-defence and the theories of just war . However, there is no consensus on this interpretation. Gandhi, for example, considers this debate about nonviolence and lawful violence as a mere metaphor for the internal war within each human being, when he or she faces moral questions. The classical texts of Hinduism devote numerous chapters discussing what people who practice
13031-780: The enormous public pressure generated by the Selma Voting Rights Movement by enacting into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . When the Meredith Mississippi March Against Fear passed through Grenada, Mississippi on June 15, 1966, it sparked months of civil rights activity on the part of Grenada blacks. They formed the Grenada County Freedom Movement (GCFM) as an SCLC affiliate, and within days 1,300 blacks registered to vote. Though
13188-429: The environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosophy of abstention from violence. It may be based on moral, religious or spiritual principles, or the reasons for it may be strategic or pragmatic . Failure to distinguish between the two types of nonviolent approaches can lead to distortion in the concept's meaning and effectiveness, which can subsequently result in confusion among
13345-617: The eyes of a friend". The term Ahimsa appears in the text Taittiriya Shakha of the Yajurveda (TS 5.2.8.7), where it refers to non-injury to the sacrificer himself. It occurs several times in the Shatapatha Brahmana in the sense of "non-injury". The Ahimsa doctrine is a late Vedic era development in Brahmanical culture. The earliest reference to the idea of non-violence to animals ("pashu-Ahimsa"), apparently in
13502-518: The formerly white schools under a court desegregation order. This was by far the largest school integration attempt in Mississippi since the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954. The all-white school board resisted fiercely, whites threatened black parents with economic retaliation if they did not withdraw their children, and by the first day of school the number of black children registered in
13659-409: The founder of Aikido, described his inspiration as Ahimsa. According to this interpretation of Ahimsa in self-defence, one must not assume that the world is free of aggression. One must presume that some people will, out of ignorance, error or fear, attack other persons or intrude into their space, physically or verbally. The aim of self-defence, suggested Ueshiba, must be to neutralise the aggression of
13816-650: The governor of Massachusetts and Mrs. John Burgess, wife of the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts. Nightly marches to the Old Slave Market were attacked by white mobs, and when blacks attempted to integrate "white-only" beaches they were assaulted by police who beat them with clubs. On June 11, King and other SCLC leaders were arrested for trying to lunch at the Monson Motel restaurant, and when an integrated group of young protesters tried to use
13973-647: The group settled on Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as its name, expanding its focus beyond buses to ending all forms of segregation. A small office was established in the Prince Hall Masonic Temple Building on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta with Ella Baker as SCLC's first—and for a long time only—staff member. SCLC was governed by an elected board, and established as an organization of affiliates, most of which were either individual churches or community organizations such as
14130-573: The group to either move to the other section or to leave; when the group refused, Coletta called the police. One member of the group left the premises before the police arrived. Police Lieutenant Wallace Upchurch led several officers in the arrest of the remaining seven. Now known as "the Royal Seven," the group included Mary Elizabeth Clyburn, Vivian Jones, Virginia Williams, Claude Glenn, Jesse W. Gray, and Melvin Willis, in addition to Rev. Moore. At
14287-444: The hellish realm, and for a longer time in more severe conditions if the murder victim was a monk. Saving animals from slaughter for meat, is believed to be a way to acquire merit for better rebirth. These moral precepts have been voluntarily self-enforced in lay Buddhist culture through the associated belief in karma and rebirth. The Buddhist texts not only recommended Ahimsa, but suggest avoiding trading goods that contribute to or are
14444-429: The impulse to be hateful and holding love for everyone, even those with whom one strongly disagrees. In this view, because violence is learned, it is necessary to unlearn violence by practicing love and compassion at every possible opportunity. For some, the commitment to non-violence entails a belief in restorative or transformative justice , an abolition of the death penalty and other harsh punishments. This may involve
14601-527: The independence movement in India ...), the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a staggering 65% of humanity! All this in the teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated, that nonviolence doesn't work in the 'real' world." As a technique for social struggle, nonviolent action has been described as "the politics of ordinary people", reflecting its historically mass-based use by populations throughout the world and history. Movements most often associated with nonviolence are
14758-399: The last resort. If war becomes necessary, its cause must be just, its purpose virtuous, its objective to restrain the wicked, its aim peace, its method lawful. War can only be started and stopped by a legitimate authority. Weapons used must be proportionate to the opponent and the aim of war, not indiscriminate tools of destruction. All strategies and weapons used in the war must be to defeat
14915-412: The latter of which were generally regarded as the nation's first sit-ins. In 1979, a debate developed around whether a commemorative marker of the first sit-in belonged in Durham or Greensboro; Blackwell M. "Dog" Brogden, one of the prosecutors from the 1957 Recorder's Court case, stated to the press that the marker belonged in Durham. Starting in 1979, at least four unsuccessful attempts were made to create
15072-444: The least amount of harm, and passivity is the choice to do nothing. Sometimes nonviolence is passive, and other times it isn't. For example, if a house is burning down with mice or insects in it, the most harmless appropriate action is to put the fire out, not to sit by and passively let the fire burn. At times there is confusion and contradiction about nonviolence, harmlessness and passivity. A confused person may advocate nonviolence in
15229-603: The legal and media contexts of the time. For the Royal Seven, these challenges included the all-white Superior Court jury and the sparse journalistic coverage. While the Durham Morning Herald featured the sit-in on the front page, the story was buried inside the Raleigh News and Observer and did not appear at all in the Carolina Times until a month later. There was little coverage of the sit-in on
15386-399: The local members: I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across
15543-542: The march was King's famous " I Have a Dream " speech in which he articulated the hopes and aspirations of the Civil Rights Movement and rooted it in two cherished gospels—the Old Testament and the unfulfilled promise of the American creed. When civil rights activists protesting segregation in St. Augustine, Florida were met with arrests and Ku Klux Klan violence, the local SCLC affiliate appealed to King for assistance in
15700-586: The motel swimming pool the owner poured acid into the water. TV and newspaper stories of the struggle for justice in St. Augustine helped build public support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that was then being debated in Congress . When voter registration and civil rights activity in Selma, Alabama were blocked by an illegal injunction, the Dallas County Voters League (DCVL) asked SCLC for assistance. King, SCLC, and DCVL chose Selma as
15857-622: The name used for their January meetings, the group briefly called their organization Negro Leaders Conference on Nonviolent Integration , then Southern Negro Leaders Conference and the Southern Leadership Conference . King served as president, Steele as first vice president, A.L. Davis as second vice president, T. J. Jemison as secretary, Medgar Evers as assistant secretary, Abernathy as treasurer, and Shuttlesworth as historian. At its third meeting, in August 1957,
16014-808: The nation and the world scenes of fire hoses knocking down schoolchildren and dogs attacking individual demonstrators. Public outrage led the Kennedy administration to intervene more forcefully and a settlement was announced on May 10, under which the downtown businesses would desegregate and eliminate discriminatory hiring practices, and the city would release the jailed protesters. After the Birmingham Campaign, SCLC called for massive protests in Washington, DC , to push for new civil rights legislation that would outlaw segregation nationwide. A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin issued similar calls for
16171-755: The necessity of caring for those who are violent. Nonviolence, for many, involves a respect and reverence for all sentient , and perhaps even non-sentient, beings . This might include abolitionism against animals as property, the practice of not eating animal products or by-products ( vegetarianism or veganism ), spiritual practices of non-harm to all beings, and caring for the rights of all beings. Mahatma Gandhi , James Bevel , and other nonviolent proponents advocated vegetarianism as part of their nonviolent philosophy. Buddhists extend this respect for life to animals and plants , while Jainism extend this respect for life to animals , plants and even small organisms such as insects . The classical Indian text of
16328-778: The need for nonviolence as a means to achieve political and social change . Thus, for example, Tolstoyan and Gandhism nonviolence is both a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence , but at the same time it sees nonviolent action (also called civil resistance ) as an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression or armed struggle against it. In general, advocates of an activist philosophy of nonviolence use diverse methods in their campaigns for social change, including critical forms of education and persuasion, mass noncooperation, civil disobedience , nonviolent direct action , constructive program , and social, political, cultural and economic forms of intervention. In modern times, nonviolent methods have been
16485-474: The nonviolent civil disobedience of the activists. After his arrest in April, King wrote the " Letter from Birmingham Jail " in response to a group of clergy who had criticized the Birmingham campaign, writing that it was "directed and led in part by outsiders" and that the demonstrations were "unwise and untimely." In his letter, King explained that, as president of SCLC, he had been asked to come to Birmingham by
16642-522: The notion that any violence has karmic consequences. While ancient scholars of Hinduism pioneered and over time perfected the principles of ahimsa , the concept reached an extraordinary status in the ethical philosophy of Jainism. According to historian David Hardiman , the English term "nonviolence" first appeared in Britain and the United States in the 19th century as a medical term. Before
16799-516: The number of blacks attending the white schools had dropped to roughly 70. When school officials refused to meet with a delegation of black parents, black students began boycotting both the white and black schools in protest. Many children, parents, GCFM activists, and SCLC organizers were arrested for protesting the school situation. By the end of October, almost all of the 2600 black students in Grenada County were boycotting school. The boycott
16956-555: The number of protests increased and many demonstrators and SCLC organizers were arrested as police enforced the old Jim Crow social order. In July and August, large mobs of white segregationists mobilized by the KKK violently attacked nonviolent marchers and news reporters with rocks, bottles, baseball bats and steel pipes. When the new school year began in September, SCLC and the GCFM encouraged more than 450 black students to register at
17113-432: The oldest verses of Vedas, but increasingly becomes one of the central ideas between 500 BC and 400 AD. In the oldest texts, numerous ritual sacrifices of animals, including cows and horses, are highlighted and hardly any mention is made of Ahimsa to non-human life. Hindu scriptures, dated to between 5th century and 1st century BC, while discussing human diet, initially suggest kosher meat may be eaten, evolving it with
17270-506: The opponent's heart and mind by showing love to them rather than hatred, partnering with the opponents to bring about social change by ending all violence and social injustices, and seeking a solution whereby all parties win. The techniques they use include persuasion while trying to avoid coercion, and they accept that suffering is part of the means to transform themselves and others. For many, practicing nonviolence goes deeper than abstaining from violent behavior or words. It means overriding
17427-445: The opponent, not designed to cause misery to the opponent; for example, use of arrows is allowed, but use of arrows smeared with painful poison is not allowed. Warriors must use judgment in the battlefield. Cruelty to the opponent during war is forbidden. Wounded, unarmed opponent warriors must not be attacked or killed, they must be brought to your realm and given medical treatment. Children, women and civilians must not be injured. While
17584-426: The organization drift into inaction. In a June 25 letter to King, the group's national chairman at the time, Claud Young, wrote, "You have consistently been insubordinate and displayed inappropriate, obstinate behavior in the (negligent) carrying out of your duties as president of SCLC." King was reinstated only one week later after promising to take a more active role. Young said of the suspension, "I felt we had to use
17741-554: The organization have included Joseph Lowery , Ralph Abernathy , Ella Baker , James Bevel , Diane Nash , Dorothy Cotton , James Orange , C. O. Simpkins Sr , Charles Kenzie Steele , C. T. Vivian , Fred Shuttlesworth , Andrew Young , Hosea Williams , Jesse Jackson , Walter E. Fauntroy , Claud Young, Septima Clark , Martin Luther King III , Curtis W. Harris , Maya Angelou , and Golden Frinks . Because of its dedication to direct-action protests, civil disobedience , and mobilizing mass participation in boycotts and marches, SCLC
17898-468: The police, White Citizens' Council and the Ku Klux Klan . Only a few churches had the courage to defy the white-dominated status-quo by affiliating with SCLC, and those that did risked economic retaliation against pastors and other church leaders, arson, and bombings. SCLC's advocacy of boycotts and other forms of nonviolent protest was controversial among both whites and blacks. Many black community leaders believed that segregation should be challenged in
18055-422: The position of president. In a written statement, she said that her decision came "after numerous attempts to connect with the official board leaders on how to move forward under my leadership, unfortunately, our visions did not align." The best-known member of the SCLC was Martin Luther King Jr. , who was president and chaired the organization until he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Other prominent members of
18212-605: The position, however, King was being criticized by the Conference board for alleged inactivity. He was accused of failing to answer correspondence from the board and take up issues important to the organization. The board also felt he failed to demonstrate against national issues the SCLC previously would have protested, like the disenfranchisement of black voters in the Florida election recount or time limits on welfare recipients implemented by then- President Bill Clinton . King
18369-535: The power misuse of rulers by organising and encouraging (oppressed) people to withdraw their consent and cooperation. The forms of nonviolence draw inspiration from both religious or ethical beliefs and political analysis. Religious or ethically based nonviolence is sometimes referred to as principled, philosophical, or ethical nonviolence, while nonviolence based on political analysis is often referred to as tactical, strategic, or pragmatic nonviolent action. Commonly, both of these dimensions may be present within
18526-480: The power of repressive political regimes in the developing world and the former eastern bloc. Susan Ives emphasizes this point by quoting Walter Wink : "In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000,000 people experienced nonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations ... If we add all the countries touched by major nonviolent actions in our century (the Philippines, South Africa ...
18683-520: The protesters an additional 25 dollars each. The case moved up to the State Supreme Court, where the protesters again lost their case on January 10, 1958. Associate Justice William B. Rodman said the 14th Amendment prohibits discriminatory actions by states but "erects no shield against merely private conduct, however, discriminatory or wrongful." The group then appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear their case. In
18840-538: The protesters refused and were arrested for trespassing. The case was appealed unsuccessfully to the County and State Superior Courts. The sit-in sparked debates within the African American communities in Durham about the strategies of civil rights activism. It also helped to spark future protests such as the Greensboro sit-ins and to promote coordination among African American civil rights activists across
18997-543: The protesters, the sit-in did prompt them to reevaluate their roles in dismantling Jim Crow. It also encouraged community-wide black boycotts and direct actions, which were forerunners of later collective movements. This unsuccessful attempt did inspire a surge of youth enthusiasm, as black students continued to carry out the most active protests and challenge the conservatism of Durham's elder and privileged African American circles. A group of high school NAACP members, more than half of them girls, organized regular pickets outside
19154-564: The question of "timeliness": One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. ... Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed
19311-483: The rational ones (humans) is strongest in Jain Ahimsa. Jains agree with Hindus that violence in self-defence can be justified, and they agree that a soldier who kills enemies in combat is performing a legitimate duty. Jain communities accepted the use of military power for their defence, there were Jain monarchs, military commanders, and soldiers. In Buddhist texts Ahimsa (or its Pāli cognate avihiṃsā )
19468-580: The recent bus segregation issue) a Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration when they held a press conference that day. The press conference allowed them to introduce their efforts: On February 15, a follow-up meeting was held in New Orleans, at the New Zion Baptist Church at the corner of Third and LaSalle streets. Out of this meeting came a new organization with King as its president. Shortening
19625-532: The right to vote and the jails filled up with arrested protesters, many of them students. On February 1, King and Abernathy were arrested. Voter registration efforts and protest marches spread to the surrounding Black Belt counties — Perry , Wilcox , Marengo , Greene , and Hale . On February 18, an Alabama State Trooper shot and killed Jimmie Lee Jackson during a voting rights protest in Marion , county seat of Perry County. In response, James Bevel, who
19782-424: The right to vote — which became known as "Bloody Sunday" — horrified the nation. King, Bevel, Diane Nash and others called on clergy and people of conscience to support the black citizens of Selma. Thousands of religious leaders and ordinary Americans came to demand voting rights for all. One of them was James Reeb , a white Unitarian Universalist minister, who was savagely beaten to death on
19939-433: The role. Their goal was to form an organization to coordinate and support nonviolent direct action as a method of desegregating bus systems across the South . In addition to King, Rustin, Baker, and Steele, Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham, Joseph Lowery of Mobile, and Ralph Abernathy of Montgomery, all played key roles in this meeting. The group continued this initial meeting on January 11, calling it (in keeping with
20096-425: The sake of food, they accept such violence only inasmuch as it is indispensable for human survival, and there are special instructions for preventing unnecessary violence against plants. Jains go out of their way so as not to hurt even small insects and other minuscule animals. For example, Jains often do not go out at night, when they are more likely to step upon an insect. In their view, injury caused by carelessness
20253-603: The same year that he was appointed, complaining that "deceit, mistrust, and a lack of spiritual discipline and truth have eaten at the core of this once-hallowed organization". He was replaced by Charles Steele Jr. who served until October 2009. On October 30, 2009, Elder Bernice King , King's youngest child, was elected SCLC's new president, with James Bush III taking office in February 2010 as Acting President/CEO until Bernice King took office. However, on January 21, 2011, fifteen months after her election, Bernice King declined
20410-414: The segregated Royal Ice Cream Parlor, located nearby at the corner of Roxboro and Dowd Streets (1000 N. Roxboro Street). The group entered through the back door, sat in the section reserved for white patrons, and asked to be served. When busboy David Champion asked the group to move to the section reserved for black patrons, Moore asked to speak to the manager. The owner, Louis Coletta, then appeared and asked
20567-746: The site for a major campaign around voting rights that would demand national voting rights legislation in the same way that the Birmingham and St. Augustine campaigns won passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . In cooperation with SNCC who had been organizing in Selma since early 1963, the Voting Rights Campaign commenced with a rally in Brown Chapel on January 2, 1965, in defiance of the injunction. SCLC and SNCC organizers recruited and trained blacks to attempt to register to vote at
20724-458: The spring of 1964. SCLC sent staff to help organize and lead demonstrations and mobilized support for St. Augustine in the North. Hundreds were arrested on sit-ins and marches opposing segregation, so many that the jails were filled, and the overflow prisoners had to be held in outdoor stockades. Among the northern supporters who endured arrest and incarceration were Mrs. Malcolm Peabody, the mother of
20881-605: The street by Klansmen who severely injured two other ministers in the same attack. After more protests, arrests, and legal maneuvering, Federal Judge Frank M. Johnson ordered Alabama to allow the march to Montgomery. It began on March 21 and arrived in Montgomery on the 24th. On the 25th, an estimated 25,000 protesters marched to the steps of the Alabama capitol in support of voting rights where King spoke. Within five months, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson responded to
21038-465: The streets of the capital. But despite their fears, the March on Washington was a huge success, with no violence, and an estimated number of participants ranging from 200,000 to 300,000. It was also a logistical triumph—more than 2,000 buses, 21 special trains, 10 chartered aircraft, and uncounted autos converged on the city in the morning and departed without difficulty by nightfall. The crowning moment of
21195-486: The struggle to end racial segregation was spurred by the creation of the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs (DCNA) in 1935. During the 1930s and 1940s, the DCNA helped raise the number of blacks registered to vote. It also worked to increase job opportunities for blacks and to promote black candidates for elected and appointed positions in Durham. However, after World War II, much of the progress in blacks' professional advancement
21352-483: The subsequent Birmingham Campaign can be attributed to lessons learned in Albany. By contrast, the 1963 SCLC campaign in Birmingham, Alabama , was an unqualified success. The campaign focused on a single goal—the desegregation of Birmingham's downtown merchants—rather than total desegregation, as in Albany. The brutal response of local police, led by Public Safety Commissioner "Bull" Connor , stood in stark contrast to
21509-446: The suggestion that only meat obtained through ritual sacrifice can be eaten, then that one should eat no meat because it hurts animals, with verses describing the noble life as one that lives on flowers, roots and fruits alone. Later texts of Hinduism declare Ahimsa one of the primary virtues, declare any killing or harming any life as against dharma (moral life). Finally, the discussion in Upanishads and Hindu Epics shifts to whether
21666-440: The term Ahimsa is an important spiritual doctrine shared by Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It literally means 'non-injury' and 'non-killing'. It implies the total avoidance of harming of any kind of living creatures not only by deeds, but also by words and in thoughts. The Mahabharata , one of the epics of Hinduism, has multiple mentions of the phrase Ahimsa Paramo Dharma (अहिंसा परमॊ धर्मः), which literally means: non-violence
21823-408: The thinking of particular movements or individuals. The fundamental concept of pragmatic ( tactical or strategic ) nonviolent action is to create a social dynamic or political movement that can project a national and global dialogue that affects social change without necessarily winning over those who wish to maintain the status quo. Gene Sharp promoted the pragmatic nonviolence approach. Sharp
21980-500: The virtue of Ahimsa, can and must do when they are faced with war, violent threat or need to sentence someone convicted of a crime. These discussions have led to theories of just war, theories of reasonable self-defence and theories of proportionate punishment. Arthashastra discusses, among other things, why and what constitutes proportionate response and punishment. The precepts of Ahimsa under Hinduism require that war must be avoided, with sincere and truthful dialogue. Force must be
22137-652: The war is in progress, sincere dialogue for peace must continue. In matters of self-defence, different interpretations of ancient Hindu texts have been offered. For example, Tähtinen suggests self-defence is appropriate, criminals are not protected by the rule of Ahimsa, and Hindu scriptures support the use of violence against an armed attacker. Ahimsa is not meant to imply pacifism. Alternate theories of self-defence, inspired by Ahimsa, build principles similar to theories of just war. Aikido , pioneered in Japan, illustrates one such principles of self-defence. Morihei Ueshiba ,
22294-465: The white establishment and consultations with Bayard Rustin , Ella Baker , and others, Martin Luther King Jr. invited about 60 black ministers and leaders to Ebenezer Church in Atlanta. Prior to this, Rustin, in New York City, conceived the idea of initiating such an effort and first sought C. K. Steele to make the call and take the lead role. Steele declined, but told Rustin he would be glad to work right beside him if he sought King in Montgomery for
22451-500: The white schools had dropped to approximately 250. On the first day of class, September 12, a furious white mob organized by the Klan attacked the black children and their parents with clubs, chains, whips, and pipes as they walked to school, injuring many and hospitalizing several with broken bones. Police and Mississippi State Troopers made no effort to halt or deter the mob violence. Over the following days, white mobs continued to attack
22608-427: Was a classmate of Martin Luther King Jr. In an October 3, 1956 letter to King, Moore proposed that "[a] regional group which uses the power of nonviolence would help give us direction on national movements". Like other religious leaders of the era, Moore recognized the central role of the church within black communities, particularly in organizing political movements. Sociologist Aldon Morris has supported this view of
22765-650: Was also deeply controversial. Many ministers and religious leaders—both black and white—thought that the role of the church was to focus on the spiritual needs of the congregation and perform charitable works to aid the needy. To some of them, the social-political activity of King and SCLC amounted to dangerous radicalism which they strongly opposed. SCLC and King were also sometimes criticized for lack of militancy by younger activists in groups such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and CORE who were participating in sit-ins and Freedom Rides . Originally started in 1954 by Esau Jenkins and Septima Clark on
22922-477: Was an American political scientist known for his nonviolent struggle work. Those who follow Sharp's pragmatic nonviolence approach believe in practicality rather than the moral aspect of the struggle. They believe that violence is too costly to engage in. The goals are to change their oppressor's behavior; end a specific injustice or violent situation; and seek a win for themselves, while opponents they perceive as enemies with conflicting interests should lose. Conflict
23079-507: Was directing SCLC's Selma actions, called for a march from Selma to Montgomery , and on March 7 close to 600 protesters attempted the march to present their grievances to Governor Wallace . Led by Reverend Hosea Williams of SCLC and John Lewis of SNCC, the marchers were attacked by State Troopers, deputy sheriffs, and mounted possemen who used tear-gas, horses, clubs, and bullwhips to drive them back to Brown Chapel. News coverage of this brutal assault on nonviolent demonstrators protesting for
23236-412: Was effected starting on a limited basis, and mass demonstrations by Durham blacks continued to 1963 when public facilities were finally desegregated. The sit-in had significant influence on the strategies used by civil rights activists in the Southeast during the 1960s. It revealed the shortcomings of unpublicized, spur-of-the-moment protests and also highlighted the challenges faced by black protestors in
23393-450: Was further criticized for failing to join the battle against AIDS , allegedly because he feels uncomfortable talking about condoms . He also hired Lamell J. McMorris, an executive director who, according to The New York Times , "rubbed board members the wrong way." The Southern Christian Leadership Conference suspended King from the presidency in June 2001, concerned that he was letting
23550-545: Was housed at The Progressive Club , listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. According to Septima Clark's autobiography, Echo In My Soul (page 225), the Highlander Folk School was closed because it engaged in commercial activities in violation its charter; Highlander Folk School was chartered by the State of Tennessee as a non-profit corporation without stockholders or owners. However, in 1961,
23707-516: Was later noted by one of Moore's activist compatriots, Gordon Carey, who stated: "…When we reached these cities we went directly to the movement oriented churches." According to Carey, these churches were selected because they were "where the protest activities were being planned and organized." In 1957 the organizers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) sent out a call to fellow clergymen of
23864-1134: Was not ended until early November when SCLC attorneys won a Federal court order that the school system treat everyone equal regardless of race and meet with black parents. In 1966, Allen Johnson hosted the Tenth Annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the Masonic Temple in Jackson, Mississippi . The theme of the conference was human rights - the continuing struggle. Those in attendance, among others, included: Edward Kennedy , James Bevel , Martin Luther King Jr. , Ralph Abernathy , Curtis W. Harris , Walter E. Fauntroy , C. T. Vivian , Andrew Young , The Freedom Singers , Charles Evers , Fred Shuttlesworth , Cleveland Robinson , Randolph Blackwell , Annie Bell Robinson Devine , Charles Kenzie Steele , Alfred Daniel Williams King , Benjamin Hooks , Aaron Henry and Bayard Rustin . In August 1967,
24021-528: Was one of the most well-known advocates for and practitioners of principled nonviolence. The Semai ethnic group living in the center of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia are known for their nonviolence. The Semai punan ethical or religious principle strongly pressures members of the culture towards nonviolent, non-coercive, and non-competitive behaviour. It has been suggested that
24178-402: Was replaced by Joseph Lowery who was SCLC president until 1997. In 1997, MLK's son, Martin Luther King III , became the president of SCLC. In 2004, for less than a year, it was Fred Shuttlesworth . After him, the president was Charles Steele Jr. , and in 2009, Howard W. Creecy Jr. Next were Isaac Newton Farris Jr. and C. T. Vivian , who took office in 2012. In 1997, Martin Luther King III
24335-414: Was reversed, and many from the young generation were forced back into lower-wage positions. At the same time, this younger generation was also becoming dissatisfied with the DCNA's mild, pacifistic approach to the problem of segregation in Durham. A week before the sit-in, Louis E. Austin, editor of Durham's African American newspaper Carolina Times and a supporter of Moore's, wrote: "This newspaper senses
24492-437: Was the one who proposed this citizenship education which is bringing to us not only money but a lot of people who will register and vote.' And he asked that many times. It was hard for him to see a woman on that executive body." Clark attested that deliberate and widespread discrimination and even overt suppression of women was "one of the greatest weaknesses of the civil rights movement." In 1961 and 1962, SCLC joined SNCC in
24649-470: Was unanimously elected to head the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, replacing Joseph Lowery . Under King's leadership, the SCLC held hearings on police brutality, organized a rally for the 37th anniversary of the " I Have a Dream " speech and launched a successful campaign to change the Georgia state flag , which previously featured a large Confederate cross . Within only a few months of taking
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