Little Rock in 1957 also showed the limited nature of the Supreme Court. As in Arkansas the governor Faubus refused to desegregate and stopped black children from attending the local high school. This led to white mobs gathering and attacking the black students. Little Rock gained a lot of media attention the images of violence attracted white liberal support to the Civil Rights cause. The images from Little Rock were shown all over the world. This caused embarrassment for the President and America who were heavily involved in the Cold War this caused President Eisenhower to take action.
Another method used by the Civil Rights Protestors was mass protest. This included marches, boycotts and rallies. The first large-scale mass protest took place in Montgomery, Alabama in 1956. The majority of blacks abandoned the use of buses and found other means of travel. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted a year and effected whites economically. The boycott caught the attention of the whole of USA. The boycott was influential, as it showed non-violent methods of protest was effective. However, the limitations of Montgomery Bus Boycott were that blacks still had to resort to the Supreme Court to make a decision to desegregate the buses.
From the incident at Little Rock the Civil Rights Protestors learnt a new tactic. To attack white racists who they knew would react violently as this would expose racism in the south and thus lead thus the Government would be forced to take action. An example of this is the Freedom Rides, which took place in 1961. Civil Right workers (CORE/SCLC/SNCC) travelled from the North to the South. The Freedom Rides were testing Supreme Court rulings against segregation on interstate buses. The Freedom Rides showed the viciousness of the whites. When the Freedom Riders reached Anniston, Alabama buses were stoned and set fire to. When the riders crossed into Birmingham, Alabama the police sheriff Eugene “Bull” Connor didn’t provide protection for the riders and the riders faced attacks. The Freedom Rides showed the limitation of federal laws and how civil right groups were unified. In 1963 an outbreak was made by the Civil Rights Protestors in Birmingham, Alabama. The SCLC confronted segregation and planned a march through Birmingham. Due to a shortage of volunteers a SCLC member recruited children. The police chief Eugene “Bull” Connor lost his cool and ordered fire hoses to be used on the children and police dogs set on them. The attack on children gathered a massive amount of publicity, which was shown all across the world. This embarrassed the city officials and the President Kennedy who was trying to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Due to the media attention (another tactic Civil Rights Protestors found that worked to the advantage) the Civil Rights Movement increased its support. This therefore shows that the tactic was a success especially in Birmingham with he reaction of Eugene “Bull” Connor.
During the beginning of the 1960’s a “youth led phase” was being formed. Many sit- ins were organised by SNCC and the aim was integrate lunch counters. Blacks would sit in the white area of a lunch counter and refuse to move. The protestors were often met with violence and verbal abuse. In 1960 in Greensboro, N.Carolina the most famous sit-in took place in a Woolworths lunch counter. One of the effects of the sit-ins were that they led onto jail-ins, kneel- ins, swim-ins etc. However, during the sit-ins internal disagreements were beginning to show between different civil rights groups.
Finally, another method used for the fight of equality was the role of Martin Luther King. King emphasised ideas of non- violence, mass action and unity between blacks all over America.
In conclusion in 1954 to 1964 many changes were made in the methods to gaining equality. Groups were beginning to become more unified in events e.g. Mississippi Freedom Summer, March on Washington. The approaches to gaining equality were combining different methods e.g. Birmingham, Alabama 1963. Also Civil Rights Protestors deliberately wanted to expose white extremism so then this would encourage Govt Intervention.
