“Garner v. Louisiana” – Early Sit-In Victory
Garner v. Louisiana, decided on this day, was an important victory for the sit-in movement, which began on February 1, 1960.
The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction of people convicted of “disturbing the peace” for conducting sit-ins. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana, sit-in was peaceful, and the Court held that the police could not reasonably foresee that it might cause a disturbance.
Watch the 1960s sit-ins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZE0a5-p9pg
Learn more: Iwan W. Morgan and Philip Davies, From Sit-ins to SNCC: The Student Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s (2012)
Learn more about the sit-in movement at the Civil Rights Movement Veterans website: http://www.crmvet.org/docs/sitdocs.htm
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here