Seven Days of 1961

In 1961, Black college students fought segregation. Four years later, their Supreme Court case secured First Amendment rights for future protesters. Sylvia Copper was a freshman at Southern University when she was suspended for her participation in the historic protest. She knew ...  عرض المزيد

On Nov. 11, 1961, hundreds of Black and white college students from across the Northeast flocked to Baltimore and Annapolis to conduct sit-ins, aiming to draw attention to segregated restaurants along one of the nation’s most popular travel routes. Frustrated by what they saw as ...  عرض المزيد

Brenda Travis was expelled from high school after serving time in jail for her bus station demonstration. Her Mississippi classmates walked out in support. The students wanted an end to racial violence, segregation and barriers to voting. Their activism helped rally young people ...  عرض المزيد

In 1961, Hank Thomas barely escaped death attempting to integrate interstate travel accommodations. The struggle galvanized civil rights activists across the South. The Freedom Ride movement almost ended in Alabama on May 14, 1961, when Hank Thomas and six other Riders nearly die ...  عرض المزيد

On March 27, 1961, nine students from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi risked violence, incarceration and their lives when they staged a “read-in”, at a whites-only public library. All nine were arrested. Ethel Sawyer Adolphe was just 20 years old when she and her fellow ...  عرض المزيد