Charles Sherrod shares and sings about his time in the Movement

by Randy Grosvenor

Jail vs. Bail was a term we learned from Mr. Charles Sherrod today. The Jail vs. Bail operation started when Mr. Sherrod was in prison in Rockville, North Carolina. He and some other activist went to jail for protesting and would not accept bail. Mr. Sherrod was a part of the SNCC (Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee). SNCC was an organization that did organizing and held mass meetings in Albany, GA and other states. These meetings were to teach people how to protest. A lot of the time SNCC would maek freedom songs by remaking church songs and singing them while protesting.

Hearing about how Mr. Sherrod served hard time in the Rock Hill jail was inspiring because it showed how he stood up for what he felt was right and didn’t give up. For example, Mr. Sherrod and others from SNCC had to do hard labor digging up wet dirt and transferring it into a tall truck. I also liked the fact that they still protested in jail. In the hole they would sing freedom songs. They had to live off of bread and water. That is strength to me because they never gave up. I believe this was helpful because he gave great insight on how to stand up for what you believe is right.