March 27, 1961
Nine Black students from Tougaloo College entered the all-white Jackson Municipal Library and sat down. Police arrived and ordered them to go to the “colored” library, but when they refused, police arrested them.
On the day of their trial, Jackson State University students marched to the lawn outside the jail, where they were joined by Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers and other civil rights activists. Police used tear gas and dogs on the protesters, some of whom were injured by the attack, including an 81-year-old man who suffered a broken arm.
The judge ordered each Tougaloo student to pay a $100 fine and gave them each a 30-day suspended sentence. The sit-in inspired other protests across Mississippi, including at Jackson State University, where students, including Dorie and Joyce Ladner, were expelled for their activism.
The NAACP filed a lawsuit against the library, which a federal court ordered to desegregate. Photos of the Tougaloo Nine now hang in the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.
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