A sit-in movement that started in Greensboro, North Carolina, with four African-American freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College spread across the South inspiring other young adults to get involved. Students from colleges in Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville began sit-ins at “Whites-Only” or segregated store lunch counters. The students and others would go into the stores and sit at the lunch counters, refusing to leave until the stores closed.
In February 1960, a group of Knoxville College students planned their protest. Knoxville College President Dr. James Colston learned about their plans and asked them to postpone them while he negotiated with the city leaders. Knoxville Mayor John Duncan Sr. did not want the type of violence to take place in his city that was happening across the state and took a small delegation to New York to meet with chain store executives about desegregating their stores. The executives refused to meet with the students accompanying the mayor.
The Knoxville College students became more impatient with the slow process of negotiations. In May, the downtown merchants still had not acted. The African-American community felt betrayed, and on June 9, 1960, the Knoxville sit-ins began.
Mayor Duncan continued his support of lunch counter integration and directed the police to protect the rights of the sit-in protesters. By July 12, a month after the sit-ins started in Knoxville and an economic boycott had been imposed, downtown merchants gave in and desegregated the downtown eating facilities. Robert “Bob” Booker, president of the student government association at Knoxville College participated in the sit-ins in Knoxville.
The sit-ins in other cities were less peaceful. In Nashville and Memphis protesters were beaten and taken to jail. Some sit-in participants from across the state include: Gwen Glover, Owen Junior College in Memphis; Clyde Battles, LeMoyne College in Memphis; and Diane Nash, Fisk University in Nashville.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the civil rights sit-in movement.
