 Prior to the movement, Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had been criticized by the SNCC, who felt he had not fully supported the Freedom Rides.Some SNCC activists had even given King the derisive nickname "De Lawd" for maintaining a safe distance from challenges to the Jim Crow laws.When King first visited on December 15, 1961, he wasn't planning on staying for more than a couple days until counsel, but the following day he was swept up in a mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators.