How did people respond to the peaceful protest marches the civil rights movement held in the early 1950s?
African Americans, for the most part, were in favor, as were liberal whites. Otherwise, the marches spawned renewed activity by the Ku Klux Klan, hateful protest behavior by whites who didn’t agree, and got the federal government and the state militia involved in supporting desegration of schools (not to mention the U.S. Supreme Court). As the ’50s moved on, and into the early ’60s, the federal government (FBI) started spying on and infiltrating African American and white groups who supported desegregation. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was infiltrated and people were attacked and threatened with death. I believe that several SNCC members were framed for murdering African Americans. Throughout all of this, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King led peaceful protests throughout the South, and didn’t let the violence daunt him. He and his supporter, the Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy traveled all over, spreading a message of freedom and love. Abernathy was with King the night h
