Atlanta students sit-in for U.S. civil rights, 1960-1961

In the early 1960’s, student-led sit-ins were a prominent scene in the United States Civil Rights Movement. The success of a sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina (see “Greensboro, NC, students sit-in for U.S. Civil Rights, 1960”) began a wave of action in college campuses throughout the South. One of the many areas inspired by the Greensboro sit-ins was Atlanta, Georgia.

Atlanta had managed to make some progress toward a more integrated city in the years leading up to the sit-ins. In the 1950’s an African American man named Rufus E. Clement was elected to the Board of Education, there were African American police officers, and there were two African American men elected to the Democratic Party Executive Committee of the city. There were also six African American universities in the city, so there was a lot of student power to draw on.

However, there were also many factors that contributed to the difficulty of starting an anti-segregation movement in Atlanta. Firstly, it was one of the older and larger cities in the South, and hence had a more complex social hierarchy than some cities. Additionally, the economy was in good shape, so many (blacks and whites) were content with the status quo. Among the blacks were groups of elites whose money stemmed from catering to the rich white population, or from working within the segregated black community. Thus, this sector of the black community had little interest in desegregating or causing trouble. The black community was also very spread out and did not revolve around a downtown shopping district (as in Nashville where the black population was easier to mobilize due to its centrality). Finally, on February 16, 1960, the Georgia State Legislature passed a law making it a misdemeanor to refuse to leave a place of business when ordered to by the management (most likely in response to other sit-ins happening across the South).

The Atlanta sit-in campaign started with a small independent group of African-American students that sat in at a lunch counter on March 4 and 5, 1960. They received service on both days, but were then denied service on the 7th, 9th, and 10th. Another small group of students sat in at a matinee of the musical “My Fair Lady.” Neither of these events caused much commotion or gained momentum, partly because the group was labeled as communist because of ties to the Black Nationalist and Trotskyite Dr. Lonnie Cross.

Following these actions, this group of students, two students by the names of Lonnie King and Herschelle Sullivan, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE, a nonviolent group dedicated to equality and desegregation), and some members of the USNSA (United States National Student Association) combined forces to create the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR). They decided to call for a downtown boycott, and published an “Appeal for Human Rights” in a local paper decrying segregation as immoral and as an inhibition to freedom. The document did not have much of an impact on the black or white community in the city, though the press applauded the group for its stated adherence to nonviolent practices.

On March 15, 200 students participated in sit-ins in 10 different locations downtown, including the state capital building, the county court house, city hall, bus stations, and railway stations. The governor Ernest Vandiver ordered arrests, resulting in 77 students in jail. Two days later there was a closed mass meeting of 1,400 students, and sit-ins were temporarily cancelled due to pending negotiations with business leaders. These negotiations fell apart, and COAHR suspended its official activity until classes resumed in the fall.

At this point, CORE took up leadership, putting out leaflets, picketing, and helping train the first all-white integrationist student group. CORE then planned a march on the state capitol building for May 17. That morning Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the group, and between 2,300 and 3,000 students began their march, only to be diverted by the police. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had come to Atlanta back in early March, but had been reluctant to get involved in the sit-ins due to the lack of unity within the black community, and did not want to see the movement fail in his home town). On May 29, the Ku Klux Klan held a 500-person rally, which spurred more members of the black community to sign the “Appeal for Human Rights,” including the Negro Voters League, the African Methodist Episcopal Ministers Union, the Baptist Ministers Union, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, and the NAACP.

On August 7, students in the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights started a kneel-in campaign, in which 25 students visited 6 white churches, only to be turned away from one. Two weeks later they did it again and were turned away from three. However, they did not follow up this action with any sort of immediate escalation.

Finally, in October, leadership began to mobilize for a mass action. From October 14-16, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) held a conference in Atlanta, so the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights organized a mass sit-in in two department stores and eight variety stores while four were picketed. As soon as one store closed, those sitting in moved to another. 51 people were arrested, including Dr. King. The following day 23 people were arrested, and 36 of those arrested both days refused to pay bail. There was national outrage at the arrest of Dr. King, and Robert Kennedy called the governor of Georgia demanding his release. He was let out two days later.

A second round of negotiations occurred, but business leaders refused to integrate, so students resumed activity and managed to close down all downtown lunch counters by the end of November through boycotts. Protests continued over the next three months, bringing down sales figures by 13%. Finally, black and white business owners met to discuss desegregation. On March 7, 1961, they agreed to desegregate the following fall. The students were not happy with the delay, or with the alliance between black and white business owners, but accepted the agreement nonetheless.