Albany, Georgia Movement

The Albany Movement in Georgia began in the fall of 1961 and ended in the summer of 1962. This movement was the first mass movement in modern civil rights era to have a goal to desegregate an entire community. The movement in Albany resulted in the jailing of more than one thousand African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the movement in December 1961. In one week hundreds of black protestors, including Martin Luther King Jr, were arrested and thrown in jail. Martin Luther King Jr. would leave the movement eight months later admitting that he had failed to accomplish the goals of the movement. 

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) workers (Charles Sherrod, Cordell Dragon, and Charles Jones) aimed to encourage students and others in Albany to challenge the establishment and their segregation policies. The Albany movement formed and elected William G. Anderson as their president. The people of this movement had mass meetings and many protestors marched. By December more than five hundred had been jailed and that is when they needed help and called in Martin Luther King Jr. to keep the movement going. King spoke at mass meetings and marched. From this movement emerged the SNCC Freedom Singers.

Martin Luther King Jr. would return the following summer for sentencing and chose jail over paying a fine but a white attorney had paid his fine anonymously. King would stay to carry out his effort to desegregate the city and brought in SCLC staff to help. He would come across and make an enemy out of police chief Pritchett. This police chief ordered his men to use force and make arrests. 

Martin Luther King Jr. felt the movement was a failure but many African Americans in Albany dissgreed. King learned important lessons that he would use in future movements. 

Citation:

Formwalt, Lee W. "Albany Movement." New Gerogia Encyclopedia. N.p., 9 Nov. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.

Photo credit:

http://www.freedommosaic.com/annette-jones-white

http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/569194

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/albany-movement

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/img_06_albany_06.html