CROSS MAIN STREETAMERICA, VARIETY STORES ORFIVE-AND-DIMES PROVIDEDC U S T O M E R S W I T H A N YASSORTMENT OF WARES THEYMIGHT NEED, FROM PENNYCANDY AND DRESS PATTERNSTO TOOLS AND COVERALLS.In the back of these stores,luncheonette counters servedup BLTs and lemon pie, cherryCokes and coffee by the cup.

Downtown Chattanooga was no exception—customersentered Kress’s from its front entrance in the 800 block ofMarket Street next to Loveman’s department store, or throughits rear entrance on Cherry Street. A long lunch counterreserved for white customers only anchored one side of thestore. On the opposite side, three or four small tables and ashort counter made up the ‘colored’ section of the restaurant.Black customers could place their order at the long counter, butthen carried their food to the colored section to eat.

C H A T T A N O O G A 2 3

A

SI

TT

IN

G

DO

WN

F

OR

A

W

OR

TH

Y

CA

US

E

•

PA

GE

1O

F

6

2 2 W I N T E R 0 5 - 0 6

STORY compiled by Adrienne FoleyPHOTOGRAPHY by Max McKenzie and courtesy of the Chattanooga Hamilton County Bicentennial Library

continued on page 24

YEARS LATER, NOTED CHATTANOOGANS REMINISCE ON THEIR ACTIONS THAT HELPED PAVE THE WAY FOR CHANGE.

itting Down

Caption

SauseCWfor a

orthy

SI

TT

IN

G

DO

WN

F

OR

A

W

OR

TH

Y

CA

US

E

•

PA

GE

2

O

F

6

While black and white customers alikewere welcome to shop in the store, onlywhite customers were permitted to dine atthe luncheonette. “They’re going to takeyour money, now,” says Dorothy Jones,80, who worked at the Kress’s lunchcounter at the time of the sit-ins. “Moneydon’t have no color but green. No one eversaid, ‘You’re black and you can’t buy here.They welcomed our business. You justcouldn’t have a meal there.” But this allwas about to change.

On February 19, 1960, 12honor students from HowardHigh School went downtownafter school to take stools atwhites-only lunch counters.This was the first sit-in demon-stration to take place inChattanooga and was organizedentirely by high school students,with no adults involved. Theevent was recently chronicled inan award-winning documentaryconceived and directed by thenUTC student Brian Cagle andproduced by the ChattanoogaRegional History Museum andAllied Arts of Chattanooga, inwhich noted Chattanoogans—then Howard High Schoolstudents, including Roland Carter,Billy Edwards, Leamon Pierce,Virgil Roberson and Booker T.Scruggs—reminisce about theiractions that helped pave the wayfor change in Chattanooga.

Roland Carter, composer and professoremeritus at the University of Tennessee atChattanooga, was a member of the Howardclass of 1960: “Kress’s and Woolworth’swere stores that we as the black communityfrequented in the city. Yet within these stores,there in public within public view, you havethese counters, and if you can go in thereand buy things, then why should you not beable to go in there and have a meal?”

Classmate Booker T. Scruggs II, now UTCprofessor and founder of Upward Bound:“Sure, there were places we couldn’t go. Wecouldn’t go to Warner Park, we had separatemovie theatres, then when a movie theatredid open up on Main Street (for both races),blacks had to sit in the balcony and whitesgot to sit downstairs. So when you encounterthese situations, it gives you a self-perception that something is wrong withyou—that you can’t go where others aregoing, or participate in things that others areparticipating in. And you begin to think,

what do I need to do to get the perks thateveryone else is getting? Do I need to fight?Protest? Get a better education? What do Ineed to do?”

Billy Edwards, Howard class of 1961,retired from TVA: “We knew we couldn’t dothose things (i.e. eat at the lunch counter)but then to have someone tell you ‘No, we’renot going to serve you,’ it just made yourblood boil. Even though this was a way oflife, you knew it was just something youwere not going to accept.”

Virgil Roberson, retired coach andeducator, was 17 in 1960 and captain ofHoward High School’s football team: “I thinkwe just felt it was time for a change. Youwere raised not to be disrespectful, but youwere beginning to start thinking for yourself.So when this thing came up about the sit-insin other places, we began thinking toourselves, we need to change things here inChattanooga, we’re tired of this.”

What made Chattanooga’s movementunique was that it was organized entirelyby high school students, as opposed tocollege students or adults in other areas.On Friday, the students were handed slipsof paper that said “Sit In Today” alongwith a mimeographed sheet of rules thatadvised the students to be orderly and onbest behavior, refrain from profanity,make small purchases if possible.

Billy Edwards: “We didn’t want any adultsinvolved. This was a student movement. Weknew if we involved any adults, they would

tell us not to do this. We were assigned todifferent stores. We were to be very orderly.We just kind of wandered in Kress’s like wealways do. I mean, this was a no-no.Everybody knows you don’t go into a whiteplace and try to be served. Once we gotthere it was a little unnerving to walk up tothat counter and sit down and see the lookson everybody’s faces...you know, what areyou doing here? I think it was unnerving forthem as well as for us. All the waitresseswent and got their supervisors and they

closed that place down soquick it wasn’t even funny. Bythe time we went intoMcClellan’s, we were able tobe seated and the store neverclosed. The manager therewas pretty cool, he kept hisstore operating and peoplejust looked at us, very curiousabout what we were doing.”

What started out asa peaceful demonstrationsoon made waves across thecity. Word of the students’sit-in came across policeradios and law enforcementeventually went into thestores and escorted thestudents away from the coun-ters. However, news of thesit-in appeared in the news-paper, on radio and TV overthe weekend, and caused astir within the community.

Virgil Roberson: “You haveto realize this was a complete surpriseto the city. They had no way of knowingthat this was coming so they had noorganized retaliation. But by Monday,resistance had formulated.”

Former Chattanooga Mayor GeneRoberts was 28 in 1960, and worked asassistant to Mayor P.R. Olgiati from 1959to 1963. “I think people were stunned (bythe sit-ins). I don’t think the peoplebehind the counter knew what to do. Noone was served, words were exchanged,the police were called, and that particularincident ended without any real trouble.I think people thought it was probably aone-time thing.”

However, as school ended on Monday,more than 200 Howard High Schoolstudents returned to the lunch counters atKress’s, Woolworth’s and McClellan’s tocontinue what the seniors had started.In addition, white students from across thearea showed up to see what was going on.

Left to right, retired Coach Virgil Roberson, UTC Professor Booker T.Scruggs and Chattanooga Council Member Leamon Pierce participatedin peaceful student sit-ins during the 1960s.

continued from page 23

Many white students attempted to occupythe lunch counters first and prevent theblack students from staging the protests.The police ordered both groups to clearthe aisles. Meanwhile, business insidethe store continued as usual. MayorOlgiati would say, “On Monday, we justsort of laughed about it. We didn’t knowthat both sides were coming downtownon Tuesday.”

Billy Edwards: “At that time there werestill separate water fountains—you couldn’teven drink from a water fountain with“white” on it. There were colored and whiterestrooms. That would bother any normalhuman being, that you were being treatedas a second-class citizen.”

Chattanooga City Council MemberLeamon Pierce, currently representative forDistrict 8, was a member of Howard’s classof 1960: “I had just gotten my first job onsecond shift, and I would no doubt be lategoing in because of the demonstrationsand on several occasions, my picture mighthave appeared in the paper. When I wouldget to work, all the bulletin boards wouldhave my picture on them, I guess to informall the other employees as to who I was andthe activities I was involved in. At the time,to be involved in activities like that, youwere resented from the other side.”

News of the sit-ins continued tooccupy pages of the newspaper, withphotographs of students at the counters,editorials and letters to the editor. Oneeditorial read “...it is deeply disappointingthat Negro students have resorted to adestructive sort of exhibitionism, copyingthe ill-advised mob tactics of similargroups...The owners of private propertyhave an absolute right to serve or notserve on whatever basis they so choose.”

Another letter, presumably written by aHoward student, took a tongue-in-cheekapproach to the situation: “Is it possiblethat we have been wrong to believe thatthe Negroes of Chattanooga are satisfied,if not happy, with the place that we haveassigned them? Is it time for us totherefore bend to their demands for equalopportunity so that we can no longer beconcerned about their ingratitude for ourfavors and kindness?”

Paul Walker, president of Howard’sClass of 1960 and one of the leaders ofthe sit-in, wrote a letter to the editor toexplain the student’s uprising.“...Acountry that is free in all respects, and isbased on such ideas, does not deservethe freedom if they only want certain

individuals to enjoy such freedoms. Forall people live in an effort to improvetheir conditions.”

Dorothy Jones: “Each generation hasits own cause. These kids knew they didn’twant to deal with segregation. To them, itwas bad. But us older folks, we had dealtwith that and much worse. But these kidsdecided that they weren’t going to acceptit because they felt like they were as goodas anyone else. I think Dr. King had a lotto do with it. He had come along andinstilled in this generation that they didn’thave to go through with that, that it wastime for a change.”

Tuesday afternoon, some 300 whitestudents were assembled on the side-walks outside Woolworth’s prior to thearrival of the Howard students. Manywhite students owned cars whichenabled them to get downtown afterschool before the black students whorode the buses. But by this afternoon,not all the counter protesters werestudents. Many were over high schoolage and had the appearance of youngtoughs, looking for trouble, according tothe Chattanooga Times-Free Press.

Name

Address

City State Zip

Phone Amount of Contribution $ .00

Eighty-year old Dorothy Jones was a waitressat the Kress’s lunch counter when studentssat down to be served. “Each generation hasits own cause,” she says.

continued on page 26

continued from page 25

The Howard students filled everystool at Woolworth’s. As some studentsmade their way over to Kress’s, whitestudents raced them to the lunchcounters, both groups vying for seats.The contest threatened to turn into amelee. The store manager cut the lightsand rang the closing bell. Police orderedeveryone to leave the building. A dozenpeople were arrested, all of them whiteexcept for one, in what The ChattanoogaTimes would call “the most massiverac ia l c la sh in the h i s tory o fChattanooga.” By Wednesday, the eventthreatened to turn into a full-fledgedrace riot, or as one newspaper editor putit, “not so much a race disturbance asmass juvenile delinquency.”

Virgil Roberson: “Our principal used totell us that he caught a lot of flack on ourbehalf, and I’m sure our teachers did too.But we were not violating school policy,you know. School was out at 3:30 p.m.and this event was at 4 p.m. As far asschool was concerned, we were off theclock and on our parents’ clocks.”

Billy Edwards: “My father had talkedwith me about stuff like this before, tellingme to stay away from this kind of stuff. Ithink lots of employers had told theiremployees, ‘you need to keep your kidsout of things like that, you know, with thesubtle threat being that if you can’t controlyour kids, then maybe you don’t need towork here.”

Roland Carter: “After that initial meetingthat Friday, I do recall that many of ourteachers were asked to make sure we goton the school buses, so that we didn’t godowntown. I also recall that a couple ofthe teachers silently encouraged us, butof course, they could not be activeparticipants because of their jobs.”

By Wednesday, the crowd was of adifferent nature than on previous days.The honor students of Howard who hadbegun the sit-in demonstrations askedtheir fellow students not to participate.Much of the crowd Wednesday wasmade up of adults, not students. Manyarea students, both black and white, justshowed up to see what would happen.

The sidewalk filled with both groups.Push led to shove. It was estimated thatover 1000 people filled the streetsaround the variety stores. Mayor Olgiatiarrived on the scene along with amplepolicemen and firemen. Around 5 p.m.the hoses were turned on—the first timethat hoses were used to disperse a crowd

in the South. Later, they would becomesynonymous with the civil rights move-ment and brutal scenes in Birmingham.But unlike Birmingham, the hoses inChattanooga were turned on both blackand white. Miraculously, no one washurt. The riot was over.

Gene Roberts: “A large group of AfricanAmericans came marching down MarketStreet toward 8th, and this other groupwas marching from 8th, shouting epithets,and had the police keeping the two sidesapart, spraying both sides with a prettyheavy stream of water. That diminishedthe spirit of a lot of the folks who werethere, and managed to keep it from esca-lating into a real tragic event. I think itwould have been a full-fledged riot ifMayor Olgiati had not taken that action.”

Booker T. Scruggs: “I don’t recall specificfights, but it was a crowd mentality, a mobbehavior. A lot of people were uncomfort-able with this type of behavior and if thepolice had not been there, I think it wouldhave gotten a lot worse.”

Billy Edwards: “It did take away fromour original intent. What we did broughtother people around, those who werelooking for fights, so it did take away fromwhat we were originally there for.”

Virgil Roberson: “When I look back on it,we really didn’t have that kind of fear (ofmob scenes). I feared my parents morethan what might happen down there. Ofcourse, something could have happened,

because we were stepping out into anarea where we had never been before. I’mmore afraid today than I was then, when Ilook back on what could have happened.”

Booker T. Scruggs: “And so after a time,signs were taken down, and there was nomore “colored” this and “white” that. Thenafter the signs came down, then people’sminds and attitudes began to change,slowly. And eventually you get to where weare today, because of that.”

Gene Roberts: “Those kids fromHoward—I call them kids, but they’re closeto my age—they really got it started. Andfrom everything I saw, the conduct of theyoung people who initiated this wastotally correct. They didn’t taunt anyone,they minded their own business. I don’tthink anyone could criticize their conductand the way they orchestrated and carriedout that march.”

Six months later, on August 5, 1960,the downtown lunch counters servedblack customers for the first time.Chattanooga was the first city inTennessee to see sit-in demonstrationsand at the forefront of the sit-in move-ment nationwide.

Roland Carter: “We weren’t doing thisto make history. I don’t think any of ushad any idea how important this was.It becomes history after the fact.”

Leamon Pierce: “It did quite a bit notonly on the local level but also across thenation. It was a great impact on the city

and it woke up a lot of people.”Virgil Roberson: “To be honest, I don’t

think I ever, even after they were integrated,went into any of those stores and had ameal at the lunch counter. But the wholepoint was not just to do it, but having theright to do it.”

Dorothy Jones: “My generation? Mygeneration was horrible and I didn’t wantmy kids to go through that. When I firstwent to work, I barely made $20 a week.My generation was better than my parents’and integration made it better for my kids.I have four granddaughters—an attorney,an accountant, a buyer for Saks FifthAvenue and a physical therapist. I have agrandson who is in the Air Force. They’vebeen successful because they feel likethey’re equal and that they can do thingsas well as anyone else. We’ve come a longway, that’s for sure, but we’ve still got a fairpiece to go. We’ve improved but we’re notthere yet and we won’t get there in my life-time. But what Booker and Roland and therest of these kids did, it helped pave theway. And my children helped pave the wayfor their children.”

Credits: Excerpts for this article were takenfrom original interviews, the documentary‘No Incident, “No Service: The ChattanoogaSit-Ins of 1960,” The Chattanooga Times FreePress and interviews from Talk Radio 102.3.The documentary video is available for pur-chase at the Chattanooga Store for $14.05.

SI

TT

IN

G

DO

WN

F

OR

A

W

OR

TH

Y

CA

US

E

•

PA

GE

6

O

F

6

is a documentary film directed by Brian Cagle andproduced by the Chattanooga Regional History Museum.Funded by a grant from the Allied Arts of GreaterChattanooga, the 35-minute documentary receivednational recognition in 2005 by the American Associationfor State and Local History, a national organizationdedicated to state and local history. The film, whichfeatures interviews with participants as well as amazing

photos of the events, is available through theChattanooga Regional History Museum as an outreachprogram for all ages, from school groups to social clubsto Sunday school classes. The outreach program involvesviewing the documentary, facilitating discussion andreviewing additional information and anecdotes. Formore information, contact the Chattanooga RegionalHistory Museum at 423-265-3247.

“NO INCIDENT, NO SERVICE:THE CHATTANOOGA SIT-INS OF 1960”