Chap­ter 6: Open City delves into the intense and trans­for­ma­tive sum­mer of 1961, explor­ing John Lewis’s promi­nent role in the Civ­il Rights Move­ment, par­tic­u­lar­ly in Nashville. After the Free­dom Rid­ers’ release from Parch­man Pen­i­ten­tiary, Lewis gained a new­found pub­lic vis­i­bil­i­ty, receiv­ing sig­nif­i­cant recog­ni­tion for his courage. His invi­ta­tion to speak at the “Free­dom Jubilee” in Pitts­burgh was a tes­ta­ment to his grow­ing influ­ence. Despite the acco­lades, Lewis remained hum­ble, stat­ing that he felt he had accom­plished lit­tle, reflect­ing his self­less ded­i­ca­tion to the cause. The chap­ter also empha­sizes the vibrant and grow­ing Nashville move­ment, which became a focal point for stu­dent activism across the coun­try and even inter­na­tion­al­ly, draw­ing pas­sion­ate indi­vid­u­als ready to stand up against racial seg­re­ga­tion and injus­tice in pub­lic spaces.

The nar­ra­tive also high­lights a piv­otal moment at Fisk Uni­ver­si­ty, where over a hun­dred activists con­vened to dis­cuss the direc­tion of the Civ­il Rights Move­ment. Dur­ing this sym­po­sium, Lewis, who was still deal­ing with legal chal­lenges from his involve­ment in Mis­sis­sip­pi, rec­og­nized the grow­ing divi­sion between those focused on imme­di­ate direct action and those lean­ing towards vot­er reg­is­tra­tion ini­tia­tives endorsed by the Kennedy admin­is­tra­tion. This divide ulti­mate­ly led to a crit­i­cal gath­er­ing at the High­lander Folk School, where vet­er­an activist Ella Bak­er played a piv­otal role in bridg­ing the gap. The result was the for­ma­tion of two dis­tinct wings with­in the Stu­dent Non­vi­o­lent Coor­di­nat­ing Com­mit­tee (SNCC)—one focus­ing on imme­di­ate direct action and the oth­er on broad­er vot­er reg­is­tra­tion efforts. This strate­gic shift expand­ed the move­men­t’s goals and pro­vid­ed clear­er paths for engage­ment with both polit­i­cal and social chal­lenges.

As ten­sions mount­ed through­out the sum­mer, par­tic­u­lar­ly between the old­er, more sea­soned activists like Lewis and the new­er, younger mem­bers, the debate about the best approach to civ­il rights activism inten­si­fied. Lewis’s com­mit­ment to non­vi­o­lence was increas­ing­ly chal­lenged by those who believed more rad­i­cal meth­ods were nec­es­sary to achieve quick change. A notable instance of this con­flict occurred dur­ing a protest at H.G. Hill super­mar­kets in Nashville, where con­fronta­tions with hos­tile locals esca­lat­ed, result­ing in mul­ti­ple arrests. These events high­light­ed the dif­fi­cul­ty of main­tain­ing non­vi­o­lent dis­ci­pline in the face of aggres­sion, a strug­gle that was part of the broad­er ten­sion with­in the move­ment. Despite these chal­lenges, Lewis remained a strong advo­cate for non­vi­o­lence, believ­ing that adher­ence to peace­ful protest was cru­cial to the movement’s integri­ty and suc­cess.

The chap­ter also explores the ini­ti­a­tion of “Oper­a­tion Open City,” a cam­paign aimed at deseg­re­gat­ing pub­lic spaces and secur­ing equal employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties across Nashville. Despite the decline in par­tic­i­pa­tion as the sum­mer pro­gressed, Lewis stayed com­mit­ted to the cause, lead­ing a small, ded­i­cat­ed group known as the “Hor­ri­ble Sev­en.” Their work was not with­out its chal­lenges; while some cam­paigns were suc­cess­ful, oth­ers, like attempts to inte­grate high-end restau­rants, result­ed in arrests and frus­tra­tion. These strug­gles illus­trat­ed the com­plex­i­ties of activism and the unpre­dictabil­i­ty of suc­cess, rein­forc­ing the impor­tance of per­sis­tence and strat­e­gy in the fight for civ­il rights. Lewis’s lead­er­ship dur­ing this time was instru­men­tal in keep­ing the movement’s goals alive, even in the face of daunt­ing oppo­si­tion.

As sum­mer turned to fall, the nar­ra­tive shifts to the increas­ing focus of SNCC on rur­al areas, espe­cial­ly in Mis­sis­sip­pi, where vot­er reg­is­tra­tion efforts faced even more severe resis­tance. Lewis, ever the opti­mist, believed that expand­ing the reach of the move­ment was essen­tial for achiev­ing last­ing change. Despite the dif­fi­cul­ties faced, his com­mit­ment to the cause nev­er wavered. The chap­ter con­cludes with an affir­ma­tion of Lewis’s unwa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion to the broad­er civ­il rights strug­gle, empha­siz­ing his abil­i­ty to over­come both per­son­al and orga­ni­za­tion­al chal­lenges. It high­lights the com­plex­i­ty of his lead­er­ship as he nav­i­gat­ed the evolv­ing land­scape of activism, grap­pling with inter­nal dis­agree­ments, exter­nal pres­sures, and the ongo­ing strug­gle to secure jus­tice and equal­i­ty for all.