The Atlanta Student Movement
In February 1960, here at the site of Yates and Milton Drugstore, three students from Morehouse College–Lonnie King, Joseph Pierce, and Julian Bond–began to rally students from Atlanta’s other five historically black institutions and launched the Atlanta Student Movement that helped to destroy Jim Crow in the American South. Following publication of An Appeal for Human Rights, authored by Roslyn Pope of Spelman College, the students waged a non-violent campaign that led to the desegregation of restaurants, movie theaters, parks and other federal, state, and local facilities. The first student sit-ins at 11 eating facilities in downtown Atlanta on March 15, 1960, led to the arrest of 77 students. Black and white leaders eventually negotiated a deal that desegregated lunch counters in October 1961, following the peaceful integration of Atlanta’s public schools.
Department of Economic Development
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Todd Massar.