Nashville Sit-ins

On 13 February 1960, 124 students from Nashville's Historically Black Colleges and Universities walked into Woolworth's, Kress, and McClellan's, sat down at the lunch counters and asked to be served to no avail. The students also targeted Walgreens, W.T. Grant, as well as Harvey's and Cain-Sloan department stores. Their goal was to desegregate Nashville lunch counters. The student protesters experienced no violence until February 27. On that day at Woolworth's and McClellan's, white resisters threw the students from their seats, punched, kicked, and spat upon them. Nashville police only arrested the student protesters. Eighty-one students were arrested and charged with loitering and disorderly conduct. Two days later, the court fined each student $50. They took a principled stand, refused to pay the bail, and spent 33 1/3 days in jail. Due to the 19 April bombing of Attorney Z. Alexander Looby's home, a diverse crowd of approximately 3,000 to 4,000 people silently marched from Tennessee A & l State University to the courthouse, where Mayor Ben West met them as the steps. After an intense dialogue between Mayor West and student leader the Rev. C. T. Vivian, Diane Nash stepped forward and asked the mayor if he “recommended that lunch counters be desegregated.” The mayor agreed and the next morning the Nashville Tennessean read “Integrate Counters” - Mayor. On May 10, 1960, Nashville became the first major city to begin desegregating its public facilities when six downtown stores, led by Harvey's and Cain-Sloan, opened their lunch counters to African Americans. The Nashville Student Protest Movement to desegregate all public facilities did not end until 1964.