SNCC in Arkansas

In 1960 the student sit-in movement spread rapidly across the southern states. A new civil rights organization, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or “snick”, was formed to support the movement. Little Rock’s first sit-ins came in March 1960 when Philander Smith students organized what they called “Arsnick.” They met with fines and jail sentences. The case of Frank James Lupper and Thomas B. Robinson finally reached the US Supreme Court in December 1964. It was the first case to be heard after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and led to the release of over 3,000 demonstrators nationwide. You can find out more about SNCC in Arkansas in a new book published this month by the University of Arkansas Press called Arsnick: the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas, edited by Jennifer Jensen Wallach and John A. Kirk. I'm John Kirk of the UALR History Department and this has been an Arkansas moment.