It was a two-way street back then, and it was wall-to-wall folks. It was just jam-packed: people shopping, people going to clubs, people eating, people dancing.
Farish Street was one of the largest African American districts in the South. When Civil Rights activists in the s and s began to claw away at institutionalized segregation, the seeds of change started to take root in Jackson. Negro Citizens, please do not buy on Capitol Street until we are treated with decency and respect.
Civil Rights activities in Mississippi had been sporadic and localized. But by the s, blacks and whites within Mississippi and from across the nation joined the movement to secure voting rights, orchestrate sit-ins, and organize boycotts.
Major efforts included the Freedom Rides, which filled buses with integrated groups of college students traveling across the South, testing the efficacy of the Supreme Courts ban on segregated interstate transportation. The first riders bound for Mississippi pulled short when hit by violent attacks near Anniston, Alabama, but the second group reached Jackson on May 25, Freedom Riders continued to stream into Jackson through the spring and summer of The Freedom Rides overlapped with the arrest of the Tougaloo Nine, a group of black students who attempted to use a whites-only Jackson library.
Beginning in , Medgar Evers encouraged African Americans to assert their economic power in downtown Jackson. The F. Woolworth store became a target on December 12, , where then Tougaloo professor John Salter known today as Hunter Bear Gray , along with a group of students, announced the boycott campaign. Lunch counters like Woolworth had gained popularity as picket and sit-in locations for activists across the South.
Ed King, former chaplain at Tougaloo. On May 28, , Civil Rights activists staged a sit-in at Woolworth to divert attention from simultaneous picketing on Capitol Street.
Taunts and jeers developed into violence when Central High, the nearby white school, adjourned for lunch and Woolworth flooded with antagonistic students. With a riot underway, the Woolworth manager refused to close the store and instead roped off the lunch counter and turned off the lights. Norman was knocked out and viciously beaten by Benny Oliver, a former cop in the crowd. Norman and Oliver were arrested by an undercover agent at the scene, while Moody and Lewis were repeatedly knocked off their stools.
Joan Trumpauer, a white Tougaloo student, and Lois Chafee, a white assistant professor at Tougaloo, both worked as spotters at a demonstration up the street from Woolworth. When the picketing shut down, they headed to the lunch counter to check on their colleagues. The mob exploded. Ed King, a spotter at Woolworth, called Medgar Evers and informed him that the sit-in was getting out of hand.
Green five and dime. Medgar was the most well known Civil Rights activist in the state. I was attacked with fists, brass knuckles and the broken portions of glass sugar containers, and was burned with cigarettes. I'm covered with blood and we were all covered by salt, sugar, mustard, and various other things. The mob continued to pelt the demonstrators with anything they could find. Called by Rev. Ed King for help, Dr. Beittel negotiated with Woolworth manager Harold Braun.
Finally, after nearly three hours of taunting and physical attacks, the sit-in demonstration came to a close. The Jackson Woolworth sit-in was one of the most violent and publicized efforts of the s. Photos of the event appeared in papers across the nation. A Tougaloo Southern News article recapped the afternoon:. Memphis Norman was badly beaten by a former policeman. Annie Moody and Joan Trumpauer were carried from their stools at various times.
Salter was beaten around the head and shoulders; and Walter Williams, a Jackson State College student, was knocked unconscious by a flying object. After three hours the store closed; and the demonstrators with the exception of Memphis Norman, who was arrested and later taken to the hospital, went home. White-controlled media in Jackson denounced the lunch counter protestors.
The mass meeting that night was the biggest yet—despite the hordes of hostile city and state police and sheriffs' forces surrounding the church: close to a thousand people attended.
And our Woolworth sit-in now transformed the boycott movement into the massive Jackson Movement. Exactly two weeks after the Woolworth sit-in, Medgar Evers is assassinated and it has a major demoralizing effect on the movement. Farish Street was the place to be and the place to go. For President John F. Kennedy, the increasingly violent displays of racial discrimination embarrassed the United States on the international stage. Supporting racial equality might also prove politically expedient for a savvy politician who understood that the success of his party hinged on courting African American voters in the South.
Regardless of his motivations, the President could no longer ignore the escalating civil rights protests across the region. On June 11, Kennedy addressed the nation from the Oval Office.
His speech was prompted by the forced integration of the University of Alabama. When Vivian Malone and James A. Hood attempted to enroll, Governor George Wallace initially blocked them. This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.
Reflecting a growing urgency from Americans across the country, Kennedy called for legal protection and equal rights for all American citizens. Great Health Divide. Mississippi Strong. Gas Prices. Catfish Clash About Us. Contact Us. Programming Schedule. Latest Newscasts. Gray DC Bureau. Thanks for anything you can do to empower our journalism! User agreement and privacy statement. Congress St. Jackson Free Press Jump to content.
Homage to History. By Andy Muchin Wednesday, September 16, p. The members remain committed to honoring the rich legacy through a unique culture extravaganza known as the Farish Street Heritage Festival.
The Festival features several stages of live entertainment presenting national, regional, and local artists and performers. Festival patrons also enjoy arts and crafts exhibits featuring vendors from around the world. Attendees cand delight their palette with some of the best "soul food" and ethnic delicacies this side of the Mason-Dixon!
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