02-11-10: Idea # 3: Sit-ins

Fifty years after the student-led sit-ins: where are we now?

VCU Friends of the Library
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
7:30 p.m.
W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts


Panelists:

• Jenny Jones, PhD, Associate Professor of Social Work, VCU
• Napoleon Peoples, PhD, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, VCU
• Jill Rowe, PhD, Assistant Professor, African American Studies, VCU
• Shawn O. Utsey, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology and Chair of African American Studies, VCU
• Moderated by Njeri Jackson, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science and Special Assistant for Diversity in the Office of the Provost, VCU

Program information: "In February 1960, African American students and others began to participate in sit-in demonstrations at lunch counters throughout the South. These protests against segregation in public facilities received national attention and precipitated the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which extended voting rights and outlawed racial segregation in schools, the workplace, and in public facilities. Join us for a panel discussion exploring the legacy of those protests, including the state of Black America and race relations 50 years after the student-led sit-ins."

When I heard that there was going to be a panel discussion about the civil rights sit-in activism I was very excited. The act of the sit-in is very performative. I see it as performance for activism. Njeri Jackson talked about sit-ins during the Civil Rights movement and also explained that many other groups employed this tactic. Ghandi was a prime example along with feminists of many different times. Sit-ins are put on the same level with strikes and are a statement of protest against injustice.

Tom stated that I need to be educated about those who came before me and on many levels this directly relates to me. One of the panelists, Dr. Utsey, said that he visited the lunch counters after the movement happened to see "where everything went down". He talked about being in the right place at the right time or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The panelists talked about how the sit-ins impacted their lives indirectly or directly. Dr. Jenny Jones said that she was taught to believe in making a difference and that progressive action cab be taken in many different ways. As students we are living an "inherited" legacy and have the capacity to make a difference.

I was a bit appalled at something I learned. There is a thing called the B.I.T.C.H. test:

Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity

We all cringed a bit when Dr. Utsey brought this idea to our knowledge. I didn't appreciate the use of a derogatory name to get attention. Anyway, the test was made in favor of african-americans. Robert Williams created it to show that if a test is made in favor of a certain population, that the other would do poorly. White people tended to do badly on this test and it was to show that tests to "prove" African-American intelligence as biased and weighted in favor of whites.

VUU Students at Woolworth's lunch counter. Richmond, VA. February 20, 1960. Courtesy Valentine Richmond History Center.