1960 sit-in at a Nashville lunch counter Credit: U.S. Library of Congress
Students began sit-ins in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, many of them students from Fisk University.
In the months that followed, more than 150 were arrested.
Rather than pay fines, they served their time in jail. When a mayor’s committee suggested separate “Black” and “White” sections at the lunch counters, the students balked.
Two months later, a bomb exploded, nearly destroying the home of Z. Alexander Looby, the defense attorney representing many protesters. Later that day, more than 3,000 marched to city hall. Diane Nash asked the mayor if it was wrong for a citizen of Nashville to discriminate on the basis of color.
The mayor admitted it was wrong. Confronted about the lunch counters, the mayor acknowledged they should be desegregated.
Weeks later, six downtown stores desegregated their lunch counters, serving Black customers for the first time. James Lawson, who knew the principles of nonviolent resistance, led the students, many of whom became important leaders in the civil rights movement: Nash, John Lewis, James Bevel, C.T. Vivian, Marion Barry and Bernard Lafayette.
David Halberstam captured their story in his book, The Children.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Mississippi Today’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license.
For digital publications:
Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.
For print publications:
You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.
If you have any other questions, contact Audience Development Director Lauchlin Fields.
On this day in 1960
by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today February 13, 2023
The stories of investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell have helped put four Klansmen and a serial killer behind bars. His stories have also helped free two people from death row, exposed injustices and corruption, prompting investigations and reforms as well as the firings of boards and officials. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a longtime member of Investigative Reporters & Editors, and a winner of more than 30 other national awards, including a $500,000 MacArthur “genius” grant. After working for three decades for the statewide Clarion-Ledger, Mitchell left in 2019 and founded the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting.
