Silencing Houston’s Jim Crow
During the 1960s in Houston, Texas, the harsh realities of Jim Crow laws were inescapable. Signs posted all around the “Energy Capital of the World” blatantly read “colored only” and “white only”. These signs, in addition to countless other social limitations, acted as constant reminders of the societal disparities that existed based solely on race. Moreover, there were other legal practices that prevented African-Americans from voting or having accommodations that were equal to their white counterparts. Jim Crow for blacks was like an unrelenting beating to the body and spirit everyday, all day. Nevertheless, this was the law of the land. It was a law that was designed to demoralize, degrade and keep African-Americans in subservient social and economic positions. But just as American soldiers stand at the ready on the frontline staving off impending foreign threats to the preservation of the civil peace that Americans hold so dear today, on March 4, 1960, 13 Texas Southern University (TSU) students stood undaunted by a barrage of racially charged insults and discriminatory practices flung like shrapnel filled grenades on Houston’s Civil Rights’ frontline.
Bold and Daring
From a flag pole located in the center of Texas Southern University’s campus, TSU students fearlessly marched some 15 blocks to 4100 Almeda Road. Their destination was the lunch bar at Weingarten’s supermarket. The time was 4:30p.m. The objective was simple, to be given service in the same manner as white patrons.
However, for nearly four hours, the students sat quietly and were never served. As opposed to behaving in a less than favorable way, they displayed tact and a high level of decorum. In fact, they had strategically planned out this entire operation before hand like a team of well seasoned military strategists. The outline for the operation read in a fashion similar to the following:
- Do show yourself friendly on the counter at all times.
- Do sit straight and always face the counter.
- Do report all incidents to your leader.
- Do remember the teachings of Jesus Christ, Ghandi, and Martin Luther King.
- Do feel that you have a constitutional and democratic reason for what you are doing.
- Don’t strike back or curse if attacked.
- Don’t speak to anyone without stating your purpose for being involved in the movement.
By 8:15p.m., the students had accomplished their mission – to strike segregation head-on. They did so with a thunderous blow to the barriers of injustice that stood before them as pillars of hate. Friday, March 4, 1960, was recorded as Houston’s first sit-in of the civil rights movement.
