Albany Movement

== Campaign ==

Initially the established African-American leadership in Albany was resistant to the activities of the incoming peace activists. [[Clennon Washington King Sr.]] (C. W. King), an African-American real estate agent in Albany, was the SNCC agents' main initial contact. [[H. C. Boyd]], the preacher at Shiloh Baptist in Albany allowed Sherrod to use part of his church to recruit people for meetings on [[nonviolence]].<ref>Taylor Branch, ''Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63'' (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988), pp. 524–525.</ref> For decades, the situation in segregated Albany had been insufferable for its black inhabitants, who made up 40% of the town's population.<ref name="University of Georgia Press" /> At the time of the Albany Movement's formation, sexual assaults against female students of all-black [[Albany State University|Albany State College]] by white men remained virtually ignored by law enforcement officials. Local news stations such as WALB and newspapers such as ''[[The Albany Herald]]'' refused to truthfully report on the abuse suffered by the Movement workers at the hands of local white people, even referring to blacks as "niggers [and] nigras" on air and in print.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Holsaert|first1=Faith S.|title=Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC|date=2012|publisher=University of Illinois Press|page=98}}</ref><ref>Slater King, [http://www.crmvet.org/info/sking.htm "The Bloody Battleground of Albany"], Originally published in ''Freedomways'', 1st Quarter, 1964 (article explaining the rise of the Albany movement).</ref>

Thomas Chatmon, the head of the local Youth Council of the NAACP, initially was highly opposed to Sherrod and Reagon's activism. As a result of this some members of the African-American Criterion Club in Albany considered driving Sherrod and Reagon out of town, but they did not take this action.<ref>Branch, ''Parting the Waters'', p. 526.</ref>

On November 1, 1961, at the urging and with full support of Reagon and Sherrod, local black Albany students tested the Federal orders of the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] (ICC) which ruled that "no bus facility, bus, or driver could deny access to its facilities based on race".<ref name="Albany Movement Formed">{{cite web|title=Albany Movement Formed|url=http://snccdigital.org/events/albany-movement-formed/|website=SNCC Digital Gateway|publisher=SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University|access-date=3 March 2018}}</ref> The students obeyed local authorities and peacefully left the station after having been denied access to the white waiting room and threatened with arrest for having attempted to desegregate it. However, they immediately filed a case<!--case?  Suit?--> with the ICC for the bus terminal's refusal to comply with the ruling. In response to this, Albany Mayor Asa Kelley, the city commission, and police chief [[Laurie Pritchett]] formulated a plan to arrest anyone who tried to press for desegregation on charges of [[disturbing the peace]].<ref name=Branch527>Branch, ''Parting the Waters'', p. 527.</ref>

On November 22, 1961, the Trailways station was once again tested for compliance, this time by a group of youth activists from both the NAACP and SNCC. The students were arrested; in an attempt to bring more attention to their pursuit of desegregation of public spaces and "demand[s] for justice",<ref name="Albany Movement Formed"/> the two SNCC volunteers chose to remain in jail rather than post [[bail]]. In protest of the arrests, more than 100 students from Albany State College marched from their campus to the courthouse. The first mass meeting of the Albany Movement took place soon after at [[Mount Zion Baptist Church (Albany, Georgia)|Mt. Zion Baptist Church]].<ref name="Albany Movement Formed"/>

At the same time, C. W. King's son, [[Chevene Bowers King]] (C. B. King), was pushing the case of [[Charles "Charlie" Ware| Charles Ware]] from nearby [[Baker County, Georgia]] against Sheriff L. Warren Johnson of that county for shooting him multiple times while in police custody. These developing conditions where the limits of segregation and oppression of African Americans were being tested led to a meeting at the home of [[Slater King]], another son of C. W. King, including representatives of eight organizations. Besides local officers of the NAACP and SNCC, the meeting included Albany's African-American Ministerial Alliance, as well as the city's African-American Federated Women's Clubs. Most of the people at this meeting wanted to try for negotiation more than direct action. They formed the Albany Movement to coordinate their leadership, with [[William G. Anderson]] made president on the recommendation of Slater King, who was made vice president. The incorporation documents were largely the work of C. B. King.<ref>Branch, ''Parting the Waters'', pp. 529–530.</ref>

The Albany police chief, Laurie Pritchett, carefully studied the movement's strategy and developed a strategy he hoped could subvert it. He used [[mass arrest]]s but avoided violent incidents that might backfire by attracting national publicity. He used non-violence against non-violence to good effect, thwarting King's "direct action" strategy. Pritchett arranged to disperse the prisoners to county jails all over southwest Georgia to prevent his jail from filling up. The ''[[Birmingham Post-Herald]]'' stated: "The manner in which Albany's chief of police has enforced the law and maintained order has won the admiration of... thousands."<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/06_albany.html "The Limits of Non-Violence – 1962"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215101846/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/06_albany.html |date=February 15, 2017 }}, ''Eyes on the Prize'', PBS.</ref>

In 1963, after Sheriff Johnson was acquitted in his federal trial in the Ware case, people connected with the Albany Movement staged a protest against one of the stores of one of the jurors. This led to charges of [[jury tampering]] being brought.<ref>[http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim63b.htm#1963jury Article on Albany movement jury tampering], August 1963.</ref>