the richmond 34, Historical Perspectives PAST AND PRESENT.
this coming year 2020, we will celebrate our 60th anniversary. plans are being made now. look for information under the monthly blog category for recent information.
This year, February 22, 2019, we acknowledged the 59th Anniversary of the Richmond Sit-Ins. OUR RECORDS WERE FINALLY EXPUNGED. WE HAD A GREAT CELEBRATION.
IN THE NEWS:
BIG EVENT!
2010 CELEBRATION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATING THE RICHMOND SIT-INS!
February 22, 2010 marked the special 50th anniversary of the arrest of the "Richmond 34". This was a significant event in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, in which Virginia Union University students played the leading role.
On February 1, 1960, the first student sit-in occured in Greensboro, North Carolina, as determined students from North Carolina A&T University attempted to desegregate the Woolworths's department store lunch counter. The sit-in movement spread and Virginia Union University, as the south's most venerable HBCU, located in the former capital of the Confederacy, was of crucial significance to the movement's success.
On Februrary 22, 1960, some two hundred students from VUU, lead by Frank George Pinkston and Charles Melvin Sherrod, assembled on campus and marched all to downtown Richmond, shutting down operations in Virginia's major shopping district. The climactic movement occured when thirty-four students were arrested on charges of trespassing for picketing the luxurious Richmond Room restaurant in Thalhimer's Department Store. Subjected to insult, abuse, and intimidation, the students stood firm and submitted to imprisonment. As he was being led away, Pinkston declared, "The students have set the flame. Now we challenge you to put some oil on it and keep a blaze going!"
The response was overwhelming. The students had galvanized the Richmond community. They were quickly bailed out and celebrated as heroes. Their sacrifice was that day set into motion the Campaign for Human Dignity which would destroy racial discrimination laws in Richmond and change the course of history.
On February 1, 1960, the first student sit-in occured in Greensboro, North Carolina, as determined students from North Carolina A&T University attempted to desegregate the Woolworths's department store lunch counter. The sit-in movement spread and Virginia Union University, as the south's most venerable HBCU, located in the former capital of the Confederacy, was of crucial significance to the movement's success.
On Februrary 22, 1960, some two hundred students from VUU, lead by Frank George Pinkston and Charles Melvin Sherrod, assembled on campus and marched all to downtown Richmond, shutting down operations in Virginia's major shopping district. The climactic movement occured when thirty-four students were arrested on charges of trespassing for picketing the luxurious Richmond Room restaurant in Thalhimer's Department Store. Subjected to insult, abuse, and intimidation, the students stood firm and submitted to imprisonment. As he was being led away, Pinkston declared, "The students have set the flame. Now we challenge you to put some oil on it and keep a blaze going!"
The response was overwhelming. The students had galvanized the Richmond community. They were quickly bailed out and celebrated as heroes. Their sacrifice was that day set into motion the Campaign for Human Dignity which would destroy racial discrimination laws in Richmond and change the course of history.
MEMBERS OF THE RICHMOND 34
|
Elizabeth Patricia Johnson
Joanna Hinton Gloria C. Collins Patricia A. Washington Barbara A. Thornton Lois B. White Thalma Y. Hickman Celia E. Jones Carolyn Ann Horne Marise L. Ellison Virginia G. Simms Frank George Pinkston Charles Melvin Sherrod Albert Van Graves Jr. Ford Tucker Johnson Jr. Leroy M. Bray Jr. Wendell T. Foster Jr. |
Anderson J. Franklin
Ronald B. Smith Larry Pridgen Woodrow B. Grant Joseph E. Ellison Gordon Coleman Milton Johnson Donald Vincent-Goode Robert B. Dalton Samuel F. Shaw Randolph A. Tobias Clarence A. Jones Richard C. Jackson George Wendall Harris Jr. John J. McCall Leotis L. Pryor Raymond B. Randolph Jr. |
50th Anniversary of the Thalhimers Lunch Counter Sit-In
CenterStage, Richmond VA
A project recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the Thalhimers Lunch Counter Sit-in that occurred in Richmond, Virginia February 17 - 22, 2010.
On February 20, 1960, more than twenty students from Virginia Union University walked from the Lombardy Street campus to the shopping district along Broad and Grace Streets. Once there, they entered the "Whites Only" lunch counter at Thalhimers Department Store and were refused service, though they remained in their seats until the store closed.
Two days later, thirty-four VUU students returned to Thalhimers and were again refused service. This time around, they were arrested for trespassing at the request of store management. The students became known as the "Richmond 34", a reference to their place in the Civil Rights Movement as sit-ins became a form of peaceful protest against segregational policies.
Over time, Thalhimers responded by integrating its facilities and other businesses followed. The 1964 U. S. Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in schools, public spaces, and in places of employment.
On February 22, 2010, Richmond CenterStage hosted Sit-In/Stand-Out, an evening honoring the 50th anniversary of the Sit-in at the Thalhimers building, now a part of the Richmond CenterStage downtown performing arts center. In addition, Virginia Union University hosted a series of lectures, performances, and commemorative events from February 17 - 22.
Sit-In/Stand-Out included an education form for CenterStage partner schools, grades 7 through 12, a community luncheon, several performances, and inspired paintings and exhibits created by children from our partner schools in the Showcase Gallery - all serving as a remembrance of an often overlooked and forgotten part of Richmond's and America's past.
On February 20, 1960, more than twenty students from Virginia Union University walked from the Lombardy Street campus to the shopping district along Broad and Grace Streets. Once there, they entered the "Whites Only" lunch counter at Thalhimers Department Store and were refused service, though they remained in their seats until the store closed.
Two days later, thirty-four VUU students returned to Thalhimers and were again refused service. This time around, they were arrested for trespassing at the request of store management. The students became known as the "Richmond 34", a reference to their place in the Civil Rights Movement as sit-ins became a form of peaceful protest against segregational policies.
Over time, Thalhimers responded by integrating its facilities and other businesses followed. The 1964 U. S. Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in schools, public spaces, and in places of employment.
On February 22, 2010, Richmond CenterStage hosted Sit-In/Stand-Out, an evening honoring the 50th anniversary of the Sit-in at the Thalhimers building, now a part of the Richmond CenterStage downtown performing arts center. In addition, Virginia Union University hosted a series of lectures, performances, and commemorative events from February 17 - 22.
Sit-In/Stand-Out included an education form for CenterStage partner schools, grades 7 through 12, a community luncheon, several performances, and inspired paintings and exhibits created by children from our partner schools in the Showcase Gallery - all serving as a remembrance of an often overlooked and forgotten part of Richmond's and America's past.
richmond 34 commemorative marker
Richmond 34 Commemorative Marker
On Monday, February 22, 2010, fifty years to the day of the Richmond 34's sit-in, a historic marker was dedicated at Sixth and Broad Streets in Richmond CenterStage. The commemoration was capped off with special evening performances.
SunTrust Bank presented Amaranth Contemporary Dancers' "Equalizing the Lines:
Prelude to a New Dream", followed by "An Evening of Reflection with John
Legend".
SunTrust Bank presented Amaranth Contemporary Dancers' "Equalizing the Lines:
Prelude to a New Dream", followed by "An Evening of Reflection with John
Legend".
University of Virginia/PBS documentary: Rising Up
Elizabeth J. Rice, BPOS founder
Rising Up is a visually stunning documentary film of the African-American experience in the civil rights era. The film broadly covers the South, but concentrates on Virginia and follows major events with close, personal stories, including Samuel W. Tucker's 1939 library sit-in, Irene Morgan's 1946 busing case before the Supreme Court, the school desegregation crisis in 1958-59, the 1960 sit-ins, the violence of Danville and Birmingham in 1963, and the resurgence of black voting and politics in 1965.
Elizabeth Johnson Rice's father, Dr. Ford T. Johnson, Sr., was civil rights activist and worked for the NAACP. Mrs. Rice, herself, got involved in the sit-in movement and remembers being harassed and having hot coffee knocked into her lap at the segregated dining facility.
http://www.virginia.edu/insideuva/2005/09/movement.html
Elizabeth Johnson Rice's father, Dr. Ford T. Johnson, Sr., was civil rights activist and worked for the NAACP. Mrs. Rice, herself, got involved in the sit-in movement and remembers being harassed and having hot coffee knocked into her lap at the segregated dining facility.
http://www.virginia.edu/insideuva/2005/09/movement.html
Click here for more coverage information about the Richmond 34 Commemoration.