'Each Little Booth Was Occupied by a Young Black Person'
Mr.
Dwain
Horn,
Omaha,
Nebraska
I was there the day the sit-in movement at lunch counters started in Atlanta. In the early summer of 1960, Rev. King was gaining strength with his nonviolent movement. He announced that his followers would occupy the lunch counters throughout the city. Our office was in the First National Building in downtown Atlanta. There was a small lunch counter in the lobby. When we went down to our lunch counter that day, each stool and each little booth was occupied by a young black person.
They sat there calmly waiting for confrontation by whites. Aside from verbal attacks, some white people would light cigarettes and put them in the hair of the people on the stools. The young black people simply brushed them off and made no move in retaliation. In a few weeks, the effort was successful.
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