User talk:Hhhayden

On the date of January 31st in 1961, 10 young African American male demonstrators, 9 from Friendship College and 1 a graduate from Claflin College, participated in a sit in. This sit in help to prove the racism that was occurring at this date in time. This was definitely not the first of many protest but this protest stuck out in many ways compared to the pile of others that had occurred previously to this one. This protest differed from the others by being the first one as to where the protesters chose jail time as apposed to paying the fines that came along with their protests, as a result of that this protest caused the changing of the strategy of the civil rights movement to "jail no bail". The ten protesters who performed the sit in that morning were Willie McCleod, James Wells, Clarence Graham, Thomas Gaither, David Williamson, Robert McCullough, Mack Workman, Willie  Massey, John Gaines and Charles Taylor. All of the men were students at Friendship College except for Thomas Gaither (the prior graduate of Claflin College) which resulted as them being called the Friendship 9. The protest was held at McCrory's lunch counter on Main Street in Rockhill, South Carolina. The protesters were said to be dressed very nice and acted as normal citizens, but they were still discriminated against. All the students asked was for a soda and a hamburger, a simple meal yet were still denied service at the lunch counter and asked to leave. The students calmly, and nonviolently refused to leave. Since the students refused to leave the police were called in and told the men of their charges for trespassing and for the breaching of peace. The students were told they could serve 30 days of hard labor or pay the fines and only one of the protestors chose to pay. Based on the students choices the strategy of "jail no bail" was created. Clearance Graham says "we were treated like second-class citizens" which is an example of the racism that occurred at this time. This protest served as a major contribution to the ending of segregation and racial discrimination. These students not only changed the strategy of the civil rights movement by what they did, but the courage of these students in fighting for what they believe in helped to end a major problem in history.