Eye's on the Prize

The focus of the video documentary "Ain't Scared of your Jails" is on the courage displayed by thousands of African-American people who joined the ranks of the civil rights movement and gave it new direction. In 1960, lunch counter sit-ins spread across the south. In 1961, Freedom Rides were running throughout the southern states. These rides consisted of African Americans switching places with white Americans on public transportation buses. The whites sat in the back and black people sat in the front of the public buses. Many freedom riders faced violence and defied death threats as they strived to stop segregation by participating in these rides. In interstate bus travel under the Mason-Dixon Line, the growing movement toward racial equality influenced the 1960 presidential campaign. Federal rights verses state rights became an issue.

One of the first documented incidents of the sit-ins for the civil rights movement was on February 1, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee. Four college African-Americans sat at a lunch counter and refused to leave. During this time, blacks were not allowed to sit at certain lunch counters that were reserved for white people. These black students sat at a white lunch counter and refused to leave. This sit-in was a direct challenge to southern tradition. Trained in non-violence, the students refused to fight back and later were arrested by Nashville police. The students were drawn to activist Jim Lossen and his workshops of non-violence. The non-violent workshops were training on how to practice non-violent protests. John Lewis, Angela Butler, and Diane Nash led students to the first lunch counter sit-in. Diane Nash said, "We were scared to death because we didn't know what was going to happen." For two weeks there were no incidences with violence. This all changed on February 27, 1960, when white people started to beat the students. Nashville police did nothing to protect the black students. The students remained true to their training in non-violence and refused to fight back. When the police vans arrived, more than eighty demonstrators were arrested and summarily charged for disorderly conduct. The demonstrators knew they would be arrested. So, they planned that as soon as the first wave of demonstrators was arrested, a second wave of demonstrators would take their place. If and when the second wave of demonstrators were arrested and removed, a third would take their place. The students planned for multiple waves of demonstrators. Mr. Zee Alexander Lube, Nashville, Tennessee's leading black attorney defended the students that participated in the lunch counter sit-ins. Regardless of the defense provided by Mr. Lube, all of the students were found guilty of the charge of disorderly conduct and were required to pay a fifty dollar fine or spend thirty-three days in the city work house. John Lewis and a few other students refused to pay the fifty dollar fine and consequently had to spend thirty-three days in the city work house.

After this event, on April 19th, dynamite was thrown out of a passing car at Mr. Zee Alexander Lube's home. The blast destroyed the home plus shattered over a hundred and forty seven windows at a medical college located across the street from Mr. Lube's home. The fortunate thing was that no was killed during this incident. This event caused outrage within the black community and was the catalyst for a march that included participation of over four thousand people. The civil rights movement was gaining momentum and threatened to tear the city apart. At Nashville City Hall, Diane Nash asked the mayor directly, "Do you feel wrong to discriminate against a person solely on their race or color?" The mayor replied that, 'I feel it is morally wrong to refuse service to a person based solely on their race or color." Three weeks after the mayor spoke this statement; African Americans were served at lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.

During the 1960 presidential campaign between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, civil rights was an issue and neither differed much in their support for civil rights. Both looked to the south for votes. In October 1960, Martin Luther King was arrested and sentenced to four months hard labor in Atlanta, Georgia. This sentencing enraged the black community and jeopardized any votes either candidate would receive from the south. Kennedy's campaign group recognized the importance of freeing Martin Luther King and took action. They made a telephone call to the judge that pronounced sentencing on Mr. King. This phone call was able to gain Mr. King's freedom the next day. It also garnered the support that Kennedy would need to win the election.

During this time, black Americans were not allowed to sit in the front of public transportation buses and were not allowed to sit in waiting rooms set aside only for white people. This was a law. Freedom rides were formed by the black populous as a non violent protest to this form of segregation. Bands of Americans - both black and white - rode on public transportation buses throughout the south. Their roles were reversed - blacks sat in the front of the bus, whites sat in the back of the bus and when they came to a rest stop, white passengers