In the spring of 1960, the momentum from the student sit-in at the Montgomery courthouse cafeteria propelled the leaders—young activists at Alabama State College—into the forefront of the state’s civil rights movement, even as the state government acted to punish the organizers. The Alabama State Board of Education expelled nine male students and placed twenty others on probation “pending good behavior.” The board acted at the behest of Alabama’s Gov. John Patterson, who warned, “If we ever bow to a mob, we are on the way out.” Patterson blamed the students for starting the sit-in at the courthouse cafeteria and a larger demonstration on the steps of the state capitol. The editorial staff of the Montgomery Advertiser concurred, “Let ’em go.”
On Thursday, February 25, 1960, thirty-five African American men and women entered the Montgomery County Courthouse snack bar and asked to be served. White Alabamians had been waiting for such protest activities in the city’s public spaces.
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Becoming Alabama:
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