Sitting Down to Take a Stand

“Right there at my feet was Memphis Norman. They were kicking his head in.” The scene was still vivid for Bill Minor forty-eight years later as he retold part of the story.

The Woolworth Lunch Counter Sit-in… there were others before it but this one seemed to set the world on fire because of Fred Blackwell’s visceral photographs. You could almost hear the screams and taunts from the angry crowd as those at the counter seem to almost pay them no mind.

John, Joan and Anne… just sitting there and taking it.

John Salter (he would later change it to his ancestral name – Hunter Gray) is one of the coolest cats I know. He’s not a small guy. He’s tough as nails and could’ve taken any, if not all, of the mob. He had been through worse. Blood (from brass knuckles to the head) mixed with salt and ketchup run down his neck and shoulder.

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, her head turned possibly saying something to Anne, as someone is about to pour something else on her.

And Anne Moody looking tired and almost resigned to the fact that they just might not making it out of there alive.

This was just a snapshot, a moment in time and that’s how I, like many others, came to know of the sit-in. This photo was just one moment of three people trying to make life better. There were, I think, 13 people in all. When others were dragged out more came to take their place.

They volunteered for this. From what I understand, the mob was already there when Joan, John and others heard what was happening, came down, saw the mob and worked their way through so they could sit down and take their beatings. I always thought they came in, sat down and then the mob showed up (which did happen with the first wave of protestors) but no, this group had to work their way through the mob for the privilege of being attacked.

Joan was pulled by her hair and dragged out. She wrestled herself free and went back through the mob and sat back down at the counter. It went on for more than three hours.

This is what I know of my mom and the Civil Rights Movement. The other sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, death row at Parchman, the Klan threats, etc. are all relatively new to me. Maybe I heard the stories before and just didn’t remember them but the sit-in with its photographs… I remember.

Returning to Jackson, Mississippi for the Freedom Riders 50^th Anniversary I was able to walk over to Capitol Street where Woolworth used to stand. It was torn down in the name of progress with some gleaming office built in its place. I was disappointed. I don’t know why I thought it would still be there or why I was hoping it would.

There’s no marker to tell you it was once there or what took place but it was there and it took place. Forty-eight years ago Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, along with others, knowingly risked their lives, voluntarily walked through an angry mob and sat down at a lunch counter to stand up for their fellow man.

Loki Mulholland – Writer/Director

(Read Anne Moody’s and John Salter’s books – “Coming of Age in Mississippi” and “Jackson, Mississippi”)