March: Book One

Lewis and the others practicing for nonviolent resistance called themselves the Nashville Student Movement. They identified department store lunch counters as their first target of protests. At these places of business, Black customers were not allowed to sit at the lunch counters or use the dressing rooms. As a test, the group staged several sit-ins, and when they were asked to leave, they did so peacefully.

On February 7, when the group asked to be served and were refused service, they stayed. The lunch counter closed and turned out the lights, leaving the students seated at the counter. One illustration shows the protesters sitting in silence at the counter in a dark room. A few hours later, a group of men arrived and started cursing at them and calling them names. None of the protesters responded, and the group of men grew tired and left. After one more sit-in, the store owners asked for time to put together a proposal, and the group agreed.

The chief of police sent word that anyone involved in the next sit-in would be arrested. Protesters were attacked immediately, but they did not fight back. After protesters were humiliated, beaten, and called names, law enforcement arrived to tell protesters they had to leave, or they would be arrested.

This was Lewis’s first arrest. At trial, the judge refused to listen to the protestors’ lawyers and fined all the defendants $50 or 30 days in the county workhouse. The group refused to pay, believing that the money would further support a system of injustice. While they sat in jail, new protestors took their place at sit-ins. When no major progress was made, the group staged more sit-in protests. Black citizens organized a boycott of stores with segregation practices still in place. Lawson called out the NAACP for being too conservative.

On April 19, 1960, Lewis received a call informing him that someone had bombed their lawyer’s home. Lewis and other civil rights activists decided to organize a march. Thousands of people gathered to march on Nashville City Hall. The group demanded that Mayor West enact change and recommend that store managers serve Black customers. West made the recommendation. That evening, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, and store managers soon began serving Black customers. The scene closes with King’s words, encouraging activists to stay the course.