THE AMERICA ONE NEWS
Jun 1, 2025  |  
0
 | Remer,MN
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET 
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge.
Sponsor:  QWIKET: Elevate your fantasy game! Interactive Sports Knowledge and Reasoning Support for Fantasy Sports and Betting Enthusiasts.
back  
topic
NYTimes
New York Times
25 Jan 2025
Trip Gabriel


NextImg:Thomas Gaither, Who Chose Jail After Civil Rights Sit-ins, Dies at 86

The sit-in movement that began at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., in 1960 and soon spread to other cities, pricking the nation’s conscience over racial segregation, was in danger of losing momentum one year later.

In Rock Hill, S.C., local businesses still refused to integrate, despite the sit-ins. The local news no longer covered them.

Then, in 1961, a 22-year-old organizer, Thomas Gaither, introduced a new tactic. In the next sit-in, at the lunch counter of a McCrory’s dime store in Rock Hill, Black students led by him were dragged off counter stools by police officers. But this time, instead of paying a $100 trespassing fine, as earlier protesters did, they chose to serve 30-day sentences on the county chain gang.

Their “jail no bail” tactic dramatized their moral commitment and changed the direction of the civil rights movement. Within days, protesters in other cities followed suit, their incarceration drawing more attention and protests.

Image
The protesters known as the Friendship Nine, who were arrested at a McCrory’s lunch counter in Rock Hill in 1961. Standing, from left, were Mr. Gaither, Willie Thomas Massey, John Gaines, David Williamson Jr. and Mr. McCullough. Seated, from left, were James Wells, Clarence Graham, Willie McCleod and Mack Workman. All but Mr. Gaither were college students.Credit...Robert Walker/The New York Times

The choice of jail, the historian Taylor Branch wrote in “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63,” was “an emotional breakthrough for the civil rights movement” because it dramatized protesters’ willingness to pay a real price for their convictions.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.