Woolworth's SIT-IN
Jackson Mississippi, 1963
Following the Greensboro (NC) sit-ins in 1960, the practice of segregated seating at Woolworth's lunch counters garnered national attention. Woolworths stated that it would continue to maintain its official policy of adhering to "local tradition" (i.e., segregated seating in the South). Even though they announced "improvement" in the number of integrated stores in the Woolworth's network from time to time, they did not forsake the "local custom" strategy.
On May 28, 1963, civil rights activists held a sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi, to protest segregated seating. Initially, two African American ladies and one African American male from Tougaloo College sat at the lunch counter. They were then joined by five more white and black Tougaloo students and academics. A white crowd attacked the demonstrators, punching, spitting, yelling obscenities, and threw hot coffee, syrup, salt, pepper, and mustard on them until the police, who had been standing by, intervened. The event's striking photographs transformed a local protest into a mass campaign against segregation in Jackson.
The sit-in electrified Jackson's black population and drew the attention of President John F. Kennedy. After two weeks, one of the leaders in the movement, named Medgar Evers, was a WWII. Bryon De La Beckwith, a local member of the Ku Klux Klan, assassinated him as a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Jackson, Mississippi. The assassination of Medgar put more pressure on Kennedy's Justice Department and many other local leaders, defusing tension all over. The Kennedy Administration aided in negotiating an agreement between local African American leaders and the mayor's office to elevate a few black city workers and recruit limited black police officers to patrol their areas. In exchange, the black community's local leadership decided to put off rallies and demonstrations, much to the disgust of younger members.
The proprietor of the Jackson Woolworths closed the lunch counter immediately after the sit-in to minimize future disruptions. Jackson's public accommodations were segregated until the Civil Rights Act was passed in July 1964. Woolworth management said that the firm would "finally be able to service all of its customers on a desegregated basis in its shops."
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