 Bevel , a veteran of earlier nonviolent student protests with the Nashville Student Movement and SNCC , had been named SCLC 's Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education . After initiating the idea he organized and educated the students in nonviolence tactics and philosophy . King hesitated to approve the use of children , but Bevel believed that children were appropriate for the demonstrations because jail time for them would not hurt families economically as much as the loss of a working parent . He also saw that adults in the black community were divided about how much support to give the protests . Bevel and the organizers knew that high school students were a more cohesive group ; they had been together as classmates since kindergarten . He recruited girls who were school leaders and boys who were athletes . Bevel found girls more receptive to his ideas because they had less experience as victims of white violence . When the girls joined , however , the boys were close behind . 
