tougaloo

“The Tougaloo Nine and the Fight for Equal Access to Public Libraries, 1961.” When most people think of civil rights sit-ins, they envision lunch counters and picket lines. Fewer remember the quiet, deliberate courage of nine students from Tougaloo College who walked into the whites-only Jackson Public Library on March 27, 1961, and read. That “read-in” — which led to arrests, courtroom battles, and national reverberations — sits at the intersection of two essentials: the fight for civil rights and the fight for equal education. This post tells the story of the Tougaloo Nine, explains why libraries mattered, and argues that access to books and information was as central to the movement as voting rights and public accommodations. BlackPast.orgZinn Education Project Why a Library? Why Tougal...