The Student Voice: “Purging the Rabies of Racism”

Abstract

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formed in 1960 to coordinate the sit-in activities taking place across the South and accordingly to promote civil rights for all Americans. With this mission before them, the founding SNCC workers immediately began producing and distributing The Student Voice, their official newsletter. During its five-year existence, the newsletter provided a forum for the exchange of news about the movement and helped to increase awareness about the organization and its activities. This study examines The Student Voice s administrative history and content and traces how it supported and united SNCC workers while simultaneously influencing the social ideologies of the early 1960s by providing alternative news coverage of the civil rights movement.