SNCC FOUNDING

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was founded on the campus of the historic Shaw University, 60 years ago. SNCC as it came to be known was the rallying call to action for the younger set of black and white students committed to seeing social and civil change in this nation. Although the organization only survived 6 years. Those years saw a contingent of black leaders who truly inspired change in our communities across the nation. Think about you may think that Black Power started in Oakland, California with the formation of the Black Panthers. But in reality you must go the SNCC’s involvement with Lowndes County, Alabama’s move to register black voter, or to that field in Greenwood, Mississippi when SCNN Coordinator Stokely Carmichael voiced Black Power during the James Meredith March Against Fear in 1966. SNCC was like a streaking star whose blaze of light was short lived but oh so powerful. Ella Baker put together the concept of SNCC and she also encouraged them to be separate and apart from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organization. In this speech she gave during the inception of SNCC, Ella Baker discussed that the organization and the movement of these young people was so much bigger than a hamburger. Had it not been for SNCC’s determination and desire for fundamental change in this nation, we would be in a terrible situation presently. That’s why we should never forget the commitment to purpose of these giants of social and civil change.