Last week, I watched an interesting documentary that aired on my local PBS station. It focused on the origins of the “Jail, No Bail” strategy implemented by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the Civil Rights Movement.

Below is a trailer for the documentary:

I was unfamiliar with the story of the Friendship Nine before watching the film:

“On the morning of January 31, 1961, a group of eighteen African-American civil rights demonstrators (thirteen men and five women), most of whom were students at Friendship College, converged on the McCrory’s 5-10-25¢ Variety Store in downtown Rock Hill. Authorities had been notified ahead of time that there would be protests and they were on duty by 8:30 AM in case of trouble. Initially the protesters marched up and down the street carrying protest signs. Then, male demonstrators went inside the store and ten of the thirteen young men sat down at the counter and refused to leave.”

When the young people were arrested, they were ordered to pay a $100 fine or be sentenced to 30 days of hard labor. The young Freedom Fighters decided to serve the 30 days of hard labor. This was the beginning of the codification of a “jail-in” strategy in the black freedom movement. Even while they were locked up, the SNCC students protested and brought attention to the brutal conditions of their incarceration. Claybourne Carson, author of In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s, suggests that:

“For students, the Rock Hill “jail-in” was an attempt to revive the student movement by returning to the moral principle of non-cooperation with evil that was the basis of passive resistance (p.32).”

I find the history of the black freedom movement rich and endlessly fascinating. I am very interested in how black people have interacted with the carceral state throughout history. The black freedom movement provides a good opportunity to explore the themes of captivity and freedom.

Below is a report from the News Hour on PBS about the documentary. If you have a chance to see it, you should.