RALEIGH, N.C. -- An organization born in North Carolina and which played a key role in extending civil rights in the South marks its 50th anniversary.

U.S. Attorney Gen. Eric Holder, entertainer Harry Belafonte and activist/actor Danny Glover are some of those speaking during a four-day conference beginning on Thursday that recalls the contributions of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

The group nicknamed SNCC (snik) was established at Shaw University in Raleigh on April 15, 1960 in the aftermath of the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins two months earlier.

Young volunteers involved in SNCC helped register voters and get them to the polls to elect a new generation of black elected officials. Their work put the volunteers face-to-face with violence aimed at preserving racial segregation.

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