The purpose of this study is to analyze the overall rhetorical structure of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during 1960-1968. The criteria used in this study were adapted from: Joseph R. Gusfield, "Protest, Reform, and Revolt - A Reader in Social Movements;" Dan F. Hahn and Ruth Gonchar, "Studying in Social Movements: A Rhetorical Methodology;" Kurt Lang and Gladys Lang, "Collective Dynamics;" Leland M. Griffin, "The Rhetoric of Historical Movements;" Herbert W. Simons, "Requirements, Problems, and Strategies: A Theory of Persuasion for Social Movements." Gusfield's definition of a movement as "socially shared activities and beliefs directed toward the demand for change in some aspect of the social order" is utilized. To examine the rhetorical structure, it is necessary to divest it from the complex structural aspects of a movement. Simons' theory of the "grand flow" of a movement's persuasion guided this study. The rhetorical requirements of a movement are introduced in Chapter I. The requirements tend to fall into the following sub-categories: the ideology, the strategy, the goals, the membership, and the leadership. Chapter II is devoted to the setting during which the movement was founded. It includes a brief history of social unrest in civil rights struggles in the United States between the years 1950-1960. Chapter III examines the structure of SNCC based upon the philosophy of love and nonviolence, approximately 1960-1964. Chapter IV examines the structure of SNCC based upon a philosophy of hatred and rejection, approximately 1964-1968. The chapter also includes a postscript discussing SNCCts progressive movement away from the philosophy of nonviolence after 1968.
