•HRES 1566 IH 
Whereas, on March 28, 1960, students from Baton Rouge 
and New Orleans Southern and Xavier University, re-
spectively, began nonviolent resistant sit-ins; 
Whereas Louisiana student activists were arrested for sit-ins, 
expelled from school and barred from all public colleges 
and universities within Louisiana; 
Whereas their peers called for a boycott of all classes until 
the expelled students were reinstated; 
Whereas the Louisiana boycotts continued for years and 
reached its height with the Freedom March in September 
1963; 
Whereas the civil rights movement principle of peaceful pro-
tests spread throughout the South, and the Nation was 
captivated by the images of young people marching, pray-
ing, singing, demonstrating, and in many cases, being 
met with violence; 
Whereas by July 1960, Woolworth and Kress Stores agreed 
to serve all ‘‘properly dressed and well-behaved people’’ 
regardless of race; 
Whereas from April 15–17, 1960, with an $800 grant, 126 
delegates from 58 student sit-in centers and from 12 dif-
ferent States, from the North and the South gathered at 
Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and formed 
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) 
which lead to the national sit-in effort, and helped lead 
the ‘‘Freedom Rides’’ in 1961 and the historic March on 
Washington in 1963; 
Whereas SNCC was advised by Ella Baker, who was a former 
member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference 
and worked as a field secretary and director of branches 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
02:53 Jul 29, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR1566.IH
HR1566
jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
•HRES 1566 IH 
for the National Association of the Advancement of Col-
ored People (NAACP); 
Whereas Ella Baker listened to the students and she encour-
aged their nonviolent efforts as a quiet leader of a grass- 
roots effort; 
Whereas SNCC learned from great planners like Jim Forman 
and A. Philip Randolph, and were inspired by Jim 
Lawson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and developed 
a unique, agile, determined, and organized approach to 
nonviolent action, that ultimately forced the desegrega-
tion of the South; 
Whereas by the end of April 1960, a sit-in had occurred in 
every southern State; 
Whereas by August 1961, one and a half years after the in-
ception of the sit-ins, the movement had attracted over 
70,000 participants and generated over 3,000 arrests; 
Whereas in addition to its goal of desegregating places of 
public accommodation, SNCC engaged in a voter reg-
istration program in some of the most segregated areas 
of the country; 
Whereas SNCC’s voter registration program culminated in 
1964 with the Mississippi Summer Project, sponsored by 
the Council of Federated Organizations (SNCC, Congress 
of Racial Equality (CORE) and Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference (SCLC)), during which hundreds 
of volunteers, Black and White, from the North and 
South, coordinated and participated in voter registration 
projects and the formation of Freedom Schools; 
Whereas SNCC organized Freedom Schools which endeavored 
to eradicate fear and to educate African-Americans about 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:12 Jul 29, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR1566.IH
HR1566
jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
•HRES 1566 IH 
their right to vote and participate in the democratic proc-
ess; 
Whereas in 1964, SNCC helped organize the Mississippi 
Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), which challenged 
the legitimacy and seating of Mississippi’s officially rec-
ognized Democratic Party; 
Whereas the national party decisionmakers promised expan-
sion of gender and racially based restrictions; 
Whereas in 1972 racially and gender based restrictions were 
formalized into the McGovern Rules, which outlawed ex-
plicitly racist local party affiliates; 
Whereas SNCC facilitated the organization and implementa-
tion of the nonviolent protests against segregation; 
Whereas SNCC worked with the NAACP to push the passage 
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and 
Whereas the enthusiasm of the students and the support they 
garnered for their pacifism in the face of hatred, led to 
the beginning of integration within the United States and 
the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the 
founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating 
Committee (SNCC); 
(2) recognizes and commemorate the signifi-
cance and importance of SNCC and its role in orga-
nizing the national sit-in movement and the role that 
they played in the desegregation of United States so-
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
02:53 Jul 29, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HR1566.IH
HR1566
jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
•HRES 1566 IH 
ciety and for creating the political climate necessary 
to pass legislation to expand civil rights and voting 
rights for all people in the United States; 
(3) encourages the people of the United States 
to recognize and celebrate the legal victories of the 
national sit-in movement that sought to eradicate 
segregation in United States society; and 
(4) aspires to work with the same courage, de-
termination, dignity, and commitment exemplified by 
those pioneering students who dared to challenge a 
segregated society by addressing modern-day in-
equalities and injustice. 
Æ 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
02:53 Jul 29, 2010
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR1566.IH
HR1566
jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS