The Nashville Non-Violent Sit-Ins

Reverend Kelly Miller Smith, pastor of First Baptist Church, established in 1958 the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference (NCLC) as an affiliate of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.  In March of 1958 the NCLC began holding workshops on nonviolent tactics to combat segregation.  These were organized by James Lawson, a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, who had studied nonviolent principles as a missionary in India.

Rev. James Lawson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The sit-in began in February of 1960, challenging the segregated eating counters in many downtown Nashville stores.  On February 13, 100 protesters, mostly black college students from various universities, descended on 3 stores on 5^th Avenue. North:  McLellan’s, Woolworth’s, and Kress.   Eventually other stores, including Walgreens, were added.

(Nashville Today:  The Dollar General Store was Woolworths, the brown building was McLellan's, next door to the right was Kress, and across the street, Walgreens.)

The sit-ins continued to grow, culminating on February 27 when 79 demonstrators were arrested for disorderly conduct and loitering.  Many of those convicted refused to pay the $50 fine, utilizing the “jail-no bail” tactic.  Student leader, Diane Nash, explained the tactic: "We feel that if we pay these fines we would be contributing to and supporting the injustice and immoral practices that have been performed in the arrest and conviction of the defendants."

(Diane Nash and Kelly Miller Smith)

A series of demonstrations, bombings, arrests and beatings occurred over the next weeks. On April 20, Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived and addressed 4000 students at Fisk University.  He stated: "The only thing uncertain about the death of segregation is the day it will be buried."

Finally, on May 10, black students are served food at six downtown counters, including the four stores mentioned above. Nashville became the first major southern city to desegregate its lunch counters.