The Americus movement was a civil rights protest that began in Americus (located in Sumter County), Georgia, United States, in 1963 and lasted until 1965. It was organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee along with the NAACP. Its main goals were voter registration and a citizenship education plan.[1]
First protests
The first march began in 1963, in an effort to desegregate the Martin Theater. Less than a dozen activists participated in the first march. Soon, some 250 people were involved. Law enforcement, led by police chief Ross Chambliss, and County Sheriff Fred Chappell began arresting many. Martin Luther King Jr. once called Chappell "the meanest man in the world."[1]
In July 1963, another march was held, in which a group of young women joined the line to attempt to purchase tickets at the movie theater, and were arrested for doing so.[2] After being held briefly in Dawson, Georgia, the protesters were moved to the Leesburg Stockade Public Works Building in Leesburg, where they were held for 45 days in poor conditions.[2] Estimates of the number of young women who were held there range from 15[2] to about 30[3]
or as many as 33.[4] Some of the prisoners were as young as 12.[3]
Conditions in the stockade were poor: the prisoners had only concrete floors to sleep on, water only in drips from a shower, a single non-functional toilet, and poor food.[2][5] The prison authorities did not inform the parents of the prisoners of their arrest or location, and they only found out through the help of a janitor.[2]
The young women were threatened with murder, and at one point a rattlesnake was thrown into their cell.[4]
After the SNCC and Senator Harrison A. Williams used a set of photos by Danny Lyon to publicize the situation,[2][3][5] the young women were released. They did not face any criminal charges, but were nevertheless charged a fee for their use of the facilities.[3][2] They later became known as the "Stolen Girls".
The Americus movement resulted in a higher level of political participation by African Americans in Sumter County and the desegregation of many public places. It also contributed to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[9]
In 2007 veterans of the movement returned to Americus as part of a newly established organization, the Americus–Sumter County Movement Remembered, which is dedicated to commemorating and preserving the history and legacy of the Americus movement.[10]
^Schwartz, Heather (2017). Locked Up for Freedom: Civil Rights Protesters at the Leesburg Stockade. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Millbrook Press. pp. Page 6. ISBN9781467785976.
"Book Discussion on The Class of '65". C-SPAN. National Cable Satellite Corporation. July 21, 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2019. - Author Jim Auchmutey discusses his book, The Class of '65: A Student, a Divided Town, and the Long Road to Forgiveness.
