Atlanta Student Movement facts for kids
The Atlanta Student Movement was a group started in February 1960 by college students in Atlanta. These students came from the six colleges that are part of the Atlanta University Center (AUC). The movement was led by a group called the Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR).
The Atlanta Student Movement was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement. Its main goal was to end segregation. Segregation was a system of laws that kept African-American people and white people separated. In Atlanta and many other parts of the United States, segregation meant that African-American people had fewer rights than white people.
Starting the Movement
In February 1960, Lonnie King, a student at the Atlanta University Center, read about a sit-in protest. This sit-in happened at a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina. A sit-in is a type of protest where people sit down in a public place and refuse to leave. The students in Greensboro wanted to eat at the store's restaurant, which only served white people.
Lonnie King thought it was unfair that African-American people in Atlanta couldn't eat at the same restaurants as white people. He talked to other students, Joseph Pierce and Julian Bond. They decided to start a student movement in Atlanta. Their goal was to make all restaurants in Atlanta serve everyone, no matter their race.
About fifteen students went to the first meeting on February 5, 1960. They didn't have enough people for a sit-in yet. The college presidents from the Atlanta University Center met with the students. The presidents asked the students not to have sit-ins. They thought it would be better for lawyers to try and change the laws in court. The presidents also suggested the students write an advertisement for newspapers to explain what they wanted. They even paid for the ad.
Lonnie King asked Roslyn Pope, Morris Dillard, Albert Brinson, Julian Bond, and Charles Black to write the advertisement. They called it "An Appeal for Human Rights." This ad explained why it was wrong for African-American people and white people to have different rights. It asked for changes to end segregation.
On March 9, 1960, "An Appeal for Human Rights" was printed as a full-page ad in several newspapers, including the Atlanta Constitution and the New York Times. A senator from New York, Jacob Javits, even read it out loud in Congress.
On March 16, 1960, students from all the colleges in the Atlanta University Center met. They formed a new group called the "Committee on Appeal for Human Rights" (COHAR). They decided that each college would have three students on the committee to lead the group. Lonnie King became the Chairman, or leader, and John Mack was the Co-Chairman.
Sit-ins and Protests
The students wanted to make more changes. On March 15, 1960, over 200 students from the Atlanta University Center held sit-ins. They went to eleven restaurants in downtown Atlanta. Police arrested 77 students, including the six students who wrote "An Appeal for Human Rights."
After their summer break, the students started protesting again. Lonnie King was still the leader of COHAR. Herschelle Sullivan became the new Co-Chair. She had been studying in France when COHAR started but returned to Spelman College in September and wanted to join the protests.
In the fall of 1960, Lonnie King and Herschelle Sullivan asked Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to protest with them. There was a presidential election that year, and neither John F. Kennedy nor Richard Nixon were talking much about the student protests. The students believed Dr. King could help get attention from the presidential candidates.
On October 19, 1960, hundreds of students held sit-ins in Atlanta restaurants again. Dr. King joined them. The police arrested many students, and they also arrested Dr. King. The next day, even more people protested. Three days later, the Mayor of Atlanta, Hartsfield, met with COHAR. COHAR asked everyone to stop protesting for a short time. The students were released from jail. The students, Mayor Hartsfield, and restaurant owners tried to talk about ending segregation.
However, these talks did not solve the problem. Students protested more. Some arrested students chose to stay in jail as another form of protest. This made it difficult for the city government because the jails became too full.
Before Christmas, African-American adults joined the students' protests. They decided not to buy Christmas presents from stores in Atlanta that were owned by white people. This boycott meant stores in Atlanta sold $10 million fewer presents. This hurt the stores financially, making the owners more willing to talk with COHAR leaders. But they still couldn't agree on how to end segregation. In February 1961, COHAR decided that no one would shop at stores owned by white people until April 1961.
On March 6, 1961, Lonnie King and Herschelle Sullivan were called to a meeting with both white and African-American adults. These adults agreed to wait six months before ending segregation in restaurants. This was because the United States government had said Atlanta needed to let African-American children go to the same schools as white children. The adults decided that restaurants could stay segregated until the schools fixed their problem.
Lonnie King and Herschelle Sullivan did not agree with this plan. However, both the African-American and white adults insisted they must agree. King and Sullivan were angry that the African-American adults agreed to wait, but they finally agreed too.
On March 10, 1961, COHAR had a big meeting about this agreement. The students were very angry about having to wait. They were angry at the adults, not at Lonnie King or Herschelle Sullivan. Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. spoke at the meeting. He asked people to follow the agreement and said, “If anyone breaks this contract, let it be the white man.”
Achievements
Restaurants in Atlanta department stores started serving African-American customers on September 28, 1961. Other restaurants in the city ended segregation in 1964.
