This is a Call for a three-part project consisting of a national conference, archive, documentation and resource center on the origins and the development of the Chicago Area Friends of the Student Non- Violent Coordinating Committee (CAFSNCC) and its pivotal role in the Chicago civil rights movement between 1960-1965.
The Chicago Area Friends of SNCC was originally founded as a support organization for the southern student sit in movement. However, injustices such as discrimination in employment, segregation in housing and schools, an antiquated, bureaucratic school system unresponsive to the educational needs of Blacks and other minorities and disenfranchisement of Black voters by an exclusionary political machine soon transformed the organization into an activist one.
CAFSNCC worked to make Black politicians more responsive to their communities, encouraged and supported independent Black candidates for office and perhaps most importantly orchestrated the campaign against the then Superintendent of Schools, Ben Willis, and his segregationist policies. The Chicago Civil Rights Movement had its origins in Black struggles for equality dating back to the 19th century. From 1960-1965, as a result of its programs, alliances with local community groups and organizing, CAFSNCC was catapulted into the leadership of this movement.
This important Chicago story has not been told. Yet, this history laid the basis for later events such as the election of Chicago's first Black mayor, Harold Washington, and many other people's victories. Many of those victories are being eroded and the social justice goals of the movement subverted. One of the primary goals of this project is to provide current and future generations with the knowledge of the significance of the contemporary Civil Rights Movement in building democracy in Chicago, and throughout the United States and in the international struggle for social justice.
If you were a part of or want to know more about this important period in the history of this country, please contact us. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee was unique in its commitment to participatory democracy within the organization and to identifying and working with local people already engaged in local struggles. CAFSNCC operated from these same principles. Therefore, this is not a project about leaders. It is a project designed to tell your stories that should be known and must be preserved so that future generations will know the true power of the people in making social change.
For more and continuing information, go to chicagosncc.org.
Confirmed Speakers & Performers:
The converence is also a memorial to James Forman and we will be inviting his sons to be present. James Jr. has already agreed to speak at the memorial on Friday, October 21, 2005.
Organizing Committee:
Co Sponsored by Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois
Honorary Co Chairs:
Advisory Committee (In Formation)
Memoriam
Copyright © 2005
Last Modified: May 27, 2005.
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(Labor donated)