mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-10-19 07:00:00
Oct. 19, 1960
Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested along with students after thousands conducted mass sit-ins at Rich’s Department Store and other Atlanta stores, causing 16 segregated lunch counters to shut down.
The students, led by Lonnie C. King and Julian Bond, denounced segregation as contrary to democracy, only to have Georgia’s governor accuse them of breeding “dissatisfaction, discontent, discord and evil,” speculating that communists were behind this movement.
One of the main targets of the protests: Rich’s Magnolia Room, where white customers could try on clothing, use white-only washrooms and sit at a table in the Magnolia Room. Black customers, however, could not try on clothing or enter…