The Changing Character of Negro Protest

Abstract

A major change has taken place in the desegrega tion process in the last ten years. It is characterized by growing militancy on the part of thousands of Negro and white Ameri cans, and the growth in influence of six major civil rights organ izations. The initiative for change has shifted from the hands of a relatively few professional desegregationists to large num bers of average citizens who are now willing to confront the segregated system through direct action. The growth and im mediate success of the sit-in movement in 1960 added a third method of effective protest—activism—to the legal and edu cational means which had been employed before. It is found that significant desegregation in America has taken place only after the development of crisis situations which demanded rapid resolution by community decision-makers. The movement is turning to an essentially political phase, requiring the major civil rights groups to utilize all three methods more fully in co-ordinated programs. An indication of the success of such co-operative programs is the Voter Education Project, which registered more than 550,000 new Negro voters in the South from 1962 to 1964.