Cambridge movement (civil rights)

This article is about the American civil rights movement. For the British school of thought, see Cambridge movement (philosophy).

The Cambridge movement was an American social movement in Dorchester County, Maryland, led by Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee. Protests continued from late 1961 to the summer of 1964. The movement led to the desegregation of all schools, recreational areas, and hospitals in Maryland and the longest period of martial law within the United States since 1877.^[1] Many cite it as the birth of the Black Power movement.^[2]

Cambridge movement
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
Date	December 1961 – 1964
Location	Pine Street Neighborhood, Cambridge, Maryland, and U.S. Route 40 in Maryland
Caused by	Racial segregation in public accommodations and schools Creation of Route 40 campaign, Eastern Shore project, and Freedom Highways campaign
Resulted in	Maryland Public Accommodations Law (1964) Catalyst for passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964
Parties
Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) Civic Interest Group (CIG) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Nonviolent Action Group (NAG) Northern Student Movement (NSM) Black Action Federation (BAF) Cambridge Guerrillas City of Cambridge Dorchester Business & Citizens' Association (DBCA) Committee on Interracial Understanding (CIU)
Lead figures
CNAC members Gloria Richardson Enez S. Grubb Sally Garrison CIG member Clarence Logan SNCC members Reggie Robinson Bill Hansen H. Rap Brown Mayor of Cambridge Calvin Mawbray

Background

Black residents of Cambridge had the right to vote, but they were still discriminated against and lacked economic opportunities. Their homes lacked plumbing, with some even living in "chicken shacks". Since the local hospitals were segregated and only served white people, Black residents had to drive two hours to Baltimore for medical care.^[3] They experienced the highest rates of unemployment. The Black unemployment rate was four times higher than that of whites. The only two local factories, both defense contractors, had agreed not to hire any Black workers, provided that the whites agreed not to unionize. All venues of entertainment, churches, cafes, and schools were segregated. Black schools received half as much funding as white schools.^[1] Even though a third of Cambridge's residents were Black, there were only three Black police officers. These officers were not permitted to patrol white neighborhoods or arrest white individuals.^[4]

The movement

Initial protests

On Christmas Eve of 1961, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Field Secretaries, Reggie Robinson and Bill Hansen, arrived and began organizing student protests. The Cambridge Movement, much like Freedom Summer, placed significant emphasis on voter education drives, but there were some differences. In Cambridge, local white residents did not react as violently to increased Black voter registration as they did in Mississippi. In fact, some white moderates even advocated for voter registration, viewing it as a better alternative to direct action protests in the streets and public facilities. Moreover, Black voter registration did not threaten the white majority as it did in the Black Belt in the American South.^[4]

In 1962, the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) was organized to run these protests. Gloria Richardson and Inez Grubb both became the co-chairs of CNAC, which was the only SNCC affiliate not led by students.^[5] The CNAC began picketing businesses that refused to hire Black people and conducted sit-ins at lunch-counters that would not serve Black individuals. White mobs often disrupted these protests. Protests on Race Street, which separated the Black and white communities, often turned violent. Cleveland Sellers, a SNCC Field Secretary, later reflected, "By the time we got to town, Cambridge's Black people had stopped extolling the virtues of passive resistance. Guns were carried as a matter of course and it was understood that they would be used."^[3] Richardson defended such actions by the Black community, stating, "Self-defense may actually be a deterrent to further violence. Hitherto, the government has moved into conflict situations only when matters approach the level of insurrection."

In the spring of 1963, tensions rose steadily over a period of seven weeks. During this time, Richardson and 80 other protesters were arrested. By June, Black residents were rioting in the streets.^[5] Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes met with the protesters at a local school, offering to accelerate school desegregation, build public housing, and establish a biracial commission if the protests ceased. The CNAC rejected the deal. In response, Governor Tawes declared martial law and sent the National Guard to Cambridge.^[6]

Treaty of Cambridge

Potential violence near Washington, D.C., brought Cambridge to the attention of the Kennedy Administration. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy initiated discussions with the CNAC. Together with the local city government, they arrived at an agreement aimed at averting possible violence. The agreement, named the 'Treaty of Cambridge,' proposed to desegregate public facilities, establish provisions for public housing, and create a human rights committee. However, it eventually fell through when the local government demanded that it should be passed by a local referendum.^[3]

George Wallace

In May 1964, George Wallace, the segregationist Governor of Alabama, was invited by the DBCA, the city's primary business association, to give a campaign speech in Cambridge. Shortly after his arrival, black protesters appeared to protest his appearance, which incited a riot.^[3]

Aftermath

Once the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress, the movement lost all momentum. The federal government had effectively mandated all that the CNAC had been fighting for. As the protests subsided, the National Guard withdrew. Subsequently, Gloria Richardson resigned from the CNAC and relocated to New York City.^[5]

See also

• Civil Rights Movement portal

• Pine Street Neighborhood Historic District

References

1. "Cambridge, Md. 50 years ago: When the civil rights movement hit". 2013-02-09. Archived from the original on 2019-01-13. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
2. Warren, Robert Penn (1965). Who Speaks for the Negro?. United States: Random House. ISBN 978-0300205107.
3. "Treaty of Cambridge". Archived from the original on 2019-02-09. Retrieved 2019-01-13.
4. "Demonstrations on Maryland's Eastern Shore". SNCC Digital Gateway. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
5. "Gloria Richardson". Biography. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-01-13.
6. Osorio, Yari (2013-02-09). "Cambridge, Md. 50 years ago: when the civil rights movement hit..." Liberation News. Archived from the original on 2019-01-13. Retrieved 2019-01-13.

Further reading

Encyclopedias

• Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2015). "Richardson, Gloria (1922– )". Civil Disobedience: An Encyclopedic History of Dissidence in the United States. Routledge. pp. 249–250. ISBN 9781317474401. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Thompson, Kathleen (1993). "Gloria Richardson". In Hine, Darlene Clark; Brown, Elsa Barkley; Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn (eds.). Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, Volume II. Carlson Publishing. pp. 980–982. ISBN 9780926019614.

Scholarly monographs

• Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Oxford University Press. pp. 393–395. ISBN 9780199755813.
• Atwater, Deborah F. (2009). "Gloria Richardson: Adult Leader in SNCC". African American Women's Rhetoric: The Search for Dignity, Personhood, and Honor. Lexington Books. pp. 94–100. ISBN 9780739121764. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Belmonte, Laura A. (2013). "'A Lynching Should Be Reported Without Comment': Images of Race Relations". Selling the American Way: U.S. Propaganda and the Cold War. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 159–177. ISBN 9780812201239. Archived from the original on 2017-12-10. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Brick, Howard; Phelps, Christopher (2015). "A New Left 1960–1964". Radicals in America: The U.S. Left since the Second World War, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. pp. 88–120. ISBN 9780521515603. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Brock, Annette K. (1990). "Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Movement". In Crawford, Vicki L.; Rouse, Jacqueline Anne; Woods, Barbara (eds.). Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965. Indiana University Press. pp. 121–144. ISBN 9780253208323.
• Brugger, Robert J. (1996). "Land of Pleasant Living". Maryland, A Middle Temperament: 1634-1980. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 552–617. ISBN 9780801854651. Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Bryant, Nick (2007). The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465008278.
• Callcott, George H. (1985). "The Black Revolution". Maryland and America 1940-1980. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801824920.
• Carter, Dan T. (1995). The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780684809168. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Cobb, Charles E. (2008). "Up South Annapolis Cambridge and Baltimore Maryland". On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail. Algonquin Books. pp. 33–58. ISBN 9781565124394. Archived from the original on 2017-03-13. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Fitzgerald, Joseph R. (2018). The Struggle is Eternal: Gloria Richardson and Black Liberation. University Press of Kentucky.
• Harley, Sharon (2001). "The Chronicle of a Death Foretold: Gloria Richardson, the Cambridge Movement, and the Radical Black Activist Tradition". In Collier-Thomas, Bettye; Franklin, V. P. (eds.). Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights - Black Power Movement. New York University Press. pp. 174–196. ISBN 9780814716038. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Hogan, Wesley C. (2007). "Testing the Southern Blueprint". Many Minds, One Heart: SNCC's Dream for a New America. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 117–132. ISBN 9780807859599. Archived from the original on 2020-07-11. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• "House Passes Bill to Punish Persons Inciting Riots". CQ Almanac 1967 (23 ed.). Congressional Quarterly. 1968. ISBN 9781608713523.
• Hove, Mark T. (2011). "Spies, Leaks, Bugs, and Diplomats: Diplomatic Security in the 1960s" (PDF). History of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the United States Department of State. U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security; Global Publishing Solutions. pp. 161–196. OCLC 767823703. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
• Kisseloff, Jeff (2006). "Gloria Richardson Dandridge: The Militant". Generation on Fire: Voices of Protest from the 1960s, An Oral History. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 51–63. ISBN 9780813171562. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Krennmmer, Michael (2003). "The Unwelcome Mat: African Diplomats in Washington, D.C., During the Kennedy Years". In Plummer, Brenda Gayle (ed.). Window on Freedom: Race, Civil Rights, and Foreign Affairs, 1945-1988. University of North Carolina Press, 2003. pp. 163–180. ISBN 9780807854280. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Langum, David J. (1999). "Black Power Advocate". William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America. New York University Press. pp. 77–99. ISBN 9780814751503. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Lesher, Stephan (1994). "Shaking Their Eyeteeth". George Wallace: American Populist. Addison-Wesley. pp. 267–310. ISBN 9780201407983.^{[permanent dead link]}
• Levy, Peter B. (2003). "The Black Freedom Struggle and White Resistance: A Case Study of the Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland". In McMillian, John Campbell; Buhle, Paul (eds.). The New Left Revisited. Temple University Press. pp. 67–91. ISBN 9781566399760. Archived from the original on 2017-10-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Levy, Peter B. (2003). Civil War on Race Street: The Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland. University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813031873. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Levy, Peter B. (2005). "Gloria Richardson and the Civil Rights Movement in Cambridge, Maryland". In Theoharis, Jeanne; Woodard, Komozi (eds.). Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America. New York University Press. pp. 140–164. ISBN 9780814782842. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
• Levy, Peter B. (2018). "Part II Baltimore, Maryland". The Great Uprising: Race Riots in Urban America During the 1960s. Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–116. ISBN 9781108422406. Archived from the original on 2020-06-08. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• McLaughlin, Malcolm (2014). The Long, Hot Summer of 1967: Urban Rebellion in America. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137269638. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Marsh, Robert (2014). Agnew: The Unexamined Man. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781590773048. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Olson, Lynne (2001). "We Can't Deal with Her". Freedom's Daughters: The Unsung Heroines of the Civil Rights Movement from 1830 to 1970. Simon and Schuster. pp. 278–290. ISBN 9780684850122. Archived from the original on 2015-02-19. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Joseph, Peniel E. (2014). Stokely: A Life. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465080489. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
• Robnett, Davis Belinda (1997). "Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee". How Long? How Long?: African American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights. Oxford University Press. pp. 161–165. ISBN 9780198027447. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Scheips, Paul J. (2005). The Role of Federal Military Forces in Domestic Disorders, 1945-1992. Center of Military History, U.S. Army. p. 161. ISBN 9780160876295. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Walker, Jenny (2004). "The "Gun-Toting" Gloria Richardson: Black Violence in Cambridge, Maryland". In Ling, Peter J.; Monteith, Sharon (eds.). Gender and the Civil Rights Movement. Rutgers University Press. pp. 169–186. ISBN 9780813534381. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.

Dissertations and theses

• Erdman, Jennifer Lynn (2007). "Eyes of the World": Racial Discrimination Against African Dignitaries Along Maryland Route 40 During the Kennedy Administration (M.A. thesis). Morgan State University. ISBN 9781109813388.
• Fitzgerald, Joseph R. (2005). Days of Wine and Roses: The Life of Gloria Richardson (Ph.D.). Temple University. OCLC 213097799.
• Trever, Edward K. (1994). Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Civil Rights Movement, 1962-1964 (M.A. thesis). Morgan State University. OCLC 32190676.
• Wassink, Faith Noelle (2010). Meeting in the Middle in Maryland: How International and Domestic Politics Collided Along Route 40 (M.A. thesis). University of Maryland. OCLC 662519372.

Autobiographies and memoirs

• Al-Amin, Jamil (1993). Revolution by the Book: (The Rap is Live). Writers' Inc.-International. ISBN 9780962785436. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Carmichael, Stokely; Thelwell, Michael (2003). Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture). Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9780684850030. Archived from the original on 2020-09-15. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Hughes, Harry Roe; Frece, John W. (2006). My Unexpected Journey: The Autobiography of Governor Harry Roe Hughes. The History Press. ISBN 9781596291171.
• Lewis, John; D'Orso, Michael (2015). Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781476797717. Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Lyon, Danny (1992). Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807843864.
• Richardson, Gloria (2010). "The Energy of the People Passing through Me". In Holsaert, Faith S. (ed.). Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC. University of Illinois Press. pp. 273–298. ISBN 9780252035579. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.

Journals

• Cook, Melanie B. (1988). "Gloria Richardson: Her Life and Work in SNCC". Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, Supplement: 51–53.
• Foeman, Anita K. (May 1996). "Gloria Richardson: Breaking the Mold". Journal of Black Studies. 26 (5, Special Issue: The Voices of African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement): 604–615. doi:10.1177/002193479602600506. JSTOR 2784886. S2CID 145788465.
• Hogan, Wesley (July 2002). "How Democracy Travels: SNCC, Swarthmore Students, and the Growth of the Student Movement in the North, 1961-1964". The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 126 (3): 437–470. JSTOR 20093549.
• Holder, Calvin B. (September 1983). "Racism Toward Black African Diplomats During the Kennedy Administration". Journal of Black Studies. 14 (1): 31–48. doi:10.1177/002193478301400103. JSTOR 2784029. S2CID 145161414.
• Millner, Sandra Y. (July 1996). "Recasting Civil Rights Leadership: Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Movement". Journal of Black Studies. 26 (6): 668–687. doi:10.1177/002193479602600602. JSTOR 2784860. S2CID 145480828.
• Omo-Osagie, Solomon Iyobosa (Spring 2003). "'Count Her In': Enez Stafford Grubb in the Building and Rebuilding of an African American Community". Southern History. 24: 40–49.
• Richardson, Gloria (Winter 1964). "Freedom—Here and Now". Freedomways. 4: 32–34.
• Romano, Renee (September 2000). "No Diplomatic Immunity: African Diplomats, the State Department, and Civil Rights, 1961-1964". The Journal of American History. 87 (2): 546–579. doi:10.2307/2568763. JSTOR 2568763.
• Szabo, Peter S. (Fall 1994). "An Interview with Gloria Richardson Dandridge" (PDF). Maryland Historical Magazine. 89: 347–358. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-04. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
• Vachon, Nicholas Murray (Spring 2012). "The Junction: The Cold War, Civil Rights, and the African Diplomats of Maryland's Route 40" (PDF). Primary Source: The Indiana University Undergraduate Journal of History. 2 (1): 43–51. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2019-02-01.

Newspapers

• McMenamin, Jennifer (August 20, 2000). "Revisiting Killings Renews City's Pain". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
• Martin, Doulglas (October 5, 2012). "Pedro A. Sanjuan Dies at 82; Cleared U.S. Path for African Envoys". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
• Rasmussen, Fred (May 25, 1996). "William Yates Jr., 80, Brought Charges Against H. Rap Brown". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
• Rasmussen, Fred (February 23, 1997). "'Glorious Gloria' Led the Battle Struggle". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
• Thompson, William (July 26, 1992). "Tensions Remain in Cambridge Progress Questioned 25 Years after Riots". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
• Wenger, Yvonne (August 9, 2014). "Fight for Civil Rights Played Out Along U.S. 40 in Maryland". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 15 August 2015.

Non-academic works

• Henry, David (2003). Up Pine Street: A Pictorial History of the African-American Community of Cambridge, Maryland 1884-1951. David Henry. ISBN 9780974795409.
• Henry, David (2007). Up Pine Street: A Pictorial History of the African-American Community of Cambridge, Maryland 1951-2007. David Henry. ISBN 9780974795416.
• Silberman, Lauren R. (2015). "Gloria Richardson Dandridge: Crusader in Cambridge". Wild Women of Maryland: Grit & Gumption in the Free State. History Press. pp. 85–91. ISBN 9781626198111. Archived from the original on 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2019-02-01.

External links

General

• Gloria St. Clair Hayes Richardson Interview recording form Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
• H. Rap Brown Cambridge, Maryland speech on July 24, 1967 Provided by Maryland State Archives. Retrieved February 1, 2019.

Audio and video

• NBC's The American Revolution of '63, broadcast September 2, 1963 at Library of Congress

• "Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Civil Rights Movement". BBC - Witness. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2019. - 4:14 minutes.
• Lyden, Jacki; Guberman, Rachel (July 29, 2007). "Maryland Town Recalls Racial Unrest in 1967". National Public Radio (NPR). Retrieved 1 February 2019.
• Richardson, Gloria; Mosnier, Joseph. "Gloria Hayes Richardson Oral History Interview Conducted by Joseph Mosnier in New York, New York, 2011-07-19" (Video). Library of Congress. Civil Rights History Project. Retrieved 1 February 2019.

Images

• "Cambridge MD Rights: 1963-67". Flickr. Washington Area Spark. June 1963. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
• CORE Route 40 Campaign Flyer Provided by CRM Veterans website. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
• Getty Images Images of Gloria Richardson and Cambridge, Maryland during Civil Rights Movement. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
• "Photograph, Robert F. Kennedy and Others for Treaty of Cambridge Press Conference". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library And Museum. Retrieved 1 February 2019.