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   D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:15:57 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

   While figures like Martin Luther King Jr. & Rosa Parks are well-known, there were countless local leaders who galvanized their communities. People like Fannie Lou Hamer (MS), Ella Baker (VA), and Amelia Boynton (Selma AL), who emphasized the importance of grassroots organizing, were pivotal to the success of the Civil Rights Movement in America.

   Image: Amelia Boynton knocked unconscious during Bloody Sunday.

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   @blackmastodon@a.gup.pe @BlackMastodon@chirp.social #BlackMastodon #Histodons #History #BlackHistory

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:19:40 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Local communities were the backbone of the movement. They organized sit-ins, boycotts, and mass meetings. They also registered voters and challenged segregation laws and practices. Perhaps the most famous is the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where local Black Americans, led by figures like Rosa Parks and Jo Ann Robinson, refused to use the city buses, causing economic strain on the system.

     Image: Jo Ann Gibson Robinson in police booking photo.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:38 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     In summary, while national leaders and events often grab the headlines, the Civil Rights Movement was deeply rooted in local communities and powered by the courage, resilience, and determination of everyday people.

     Next time I will offer a thread featuring some pivotal local activists that we don’t hear about but who were even more courageous because they operated in critical but obscure labor for the long civil rights struggle. They deserve to be remembered.

     Image: MLK and his army.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:39 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Grassroots efforts were key in pushing for voting rights, with local folks organizing and participating in voter registration drives despite facing tremendous risk.
     In places like Selma, Alabama, local activists led efforts to register black voters, facing extreme opposition. This culminated in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965.

     Image: Participants, some carrying American flags, marching in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:39 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     To be successful, Civil rights activists had to use evolving tactics.The movement was adaptable because of feedback and ideas from local activists. Strategies shifted based on what was effective on the ground and what was needed in different regions. In homes and local venues, strategy meetings were held, often led by local leaders, discussing how best to confront Jim Crow laws in their unique locales.

     Image: Daisy Bates. She helped the Little Rock Nine integrate a high school.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:39 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Local involvement was multi-faceted and deeply rooted in individual communities. Their stories, experiences, and strategies created a powerful, collective force that was foundational to the successes of the Civil Rights Movement. The movement was not just a series of events or campaigns but was deeply integrated into the daily lives of those fighting for justice.

     Image: Dianne Nash, co-founder of SNCC and advocate for desegregation and voting rights during the Civil Rights Movement

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:40 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     National leaders often had paid security. Not so for local leaders and residents. They often had to contend with the after effects of Intimidation and violence following the departure of national leaders. These local leaders showed courage in the face of violence. One such person was E.W. Steptoe, called the baddest black man in the movement. Racists everywhere feared him.

     Image: Fearless leader, E.W. Steptoe, 1963

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:40 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     The local residents of towns like Selma, Alabama, and Philadelphia, Mississippi, faced direct, often violent opposition from white supremacists and sometimes from local law enforcement.

     For example, Vernon Dahmer, President of the NAACP in Hattiesburg, MS had his house & family bombed. He died after being burned over 40% of his body trying to save his family. Despite the risks, local people we’re determined to an equal rights.

     Image: Vernon Dahmer in his cotton field, September 1964.
     
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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:40 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Showing incredible resilience, places like Albany, Georgia, saw massive local mobilization against segregation, even as activists were repeatedly arrested.

     Local newspapers and journalists, many associated with the black press, played an essential role in documenting stories, especially in places the national media might have overlooked.

     Image: Septima Clark, center, the “mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” with Rosa Parks and Parks’ mother, Leona McCauley, 1956.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:41 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Local people bore the brunt of economic reprisals for their activism, especially in small towns where boycotting segregated businesses could result in job losses or other economic hardships.The physical and emotional toll of civic activism was immense in the local arena. For example, Fannie Lou Hamer was vital in organizing Mississippi’s Freedom Summer and was known for her saying, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

     Image: Fannie Lou Hamer rallying supporters in MS, 1964.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:41 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Locals faced daily threats, intimidation, and violence. Many were arrested, beaten, or even killed. The emotional toll of living under Jim Crow and fighting against it was immense. For example, Medgar Evers, a local NAACP leader in Mississippi, Evers was assassinated in 1963. His death galvanized the movement further.

     Image: Medgar Evers at the White House, 1961.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:41 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Critical also was that of local black businesses who supported the movement, even if it meant losing white customers. these businesses provided resources, meeting spaces, and funds.

     Churches were Central locations for organizing. Local churches were vital hubs for the Civil Rights Movement. They were meeting places, refuge points, and centers for education and strategy sessions.

     Image: 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:42 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Initiated by young students in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960, sit-ins spread rapidly. Local college and high school students would non-violently occupy “whites-only” seats at lunch counters.

     Local students formed groups like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and played major roles in sit-ins and Freedom Rides, challenging segregation in the Deep South.

     Image: Sit-in, Nashville lunch counter, 1960.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:42 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     The Freedom Rideers are most exemplary of how the energy of youth can was used to complement the wisdom of the elders. Students and young adults boarded buses to challenge segregation in interstate transportation. They faced extreme violence, especially in places like Birmingham and Montgomery.

     Image 1: A Greyhound bus burns after being firebombed by a mob outside of Anniston, Alabama.

     Image 2: Freedom Rider, set upon after he and others arrived in Montgomery.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:20:42 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Often overlooked is Ella Baker, who was was instrumental in organizing at the grassroots level and was a key figure behind the formation of the SNCC.

     Image: Ella Baker speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, August 1964.

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:21:00 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Resources

     https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement/

     https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/civil-rights-era.html

     https://www.nps.gov/articles/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement-historic-context-statement-and-aacrn-listing-guidance-african-american-civil-rights-network.htm

     https://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/issue/the-civil-rights-movement-in-mississippi-on-violence-and-nonviolence

     https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/importantpeople.htm

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     D. Elisabeth Glassco (deglassco@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 23-Sep-2023 18:21:35 JST D. Elisabeth Glassco

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     Books

     Arsenault, Raymond. Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

     Armstrong, Thomas M. Autobiography of a Freedom Rider: My Life as a Foot Soldier for Civil Rights. Health Communications Inc, 2011.

     Branch, Taylor. At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68. Simon & Schuster, 2007.

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