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Authors: Cheryl Mullenbach
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white passengers were seated in front of the women. When more white passengers arrived, the driver told Pauli and her friend to move farther back. But Pauli could see more black passengers coming onto the bus. She knew they would fill up the empty spaces in the back. So she said there was no reason to move from her seat.
The driver left and returned with the police, who arrested Pauli and her friend for creating a disturbance and violating the segregation laws of Virginia. Before the two women left the bus, Pauli gave another passenger her motherâs name and telephone number. By that evening Pauli was visited in her jail cell by lawyers from the NAACP.
The lawyers were very impressed that Pauli and her friend had taken great care to write in detail everything that had happened to them on the bus. Pauli and her friend got out of jail.The NAACP lawyers made plans to file a lawsuit. Before they could do that, the charges of violating the segregation laws were dropped. But the disturbance charge remained.
This was a turning point in Pauli Murrayâs life. It was one event that led her to law school in 1941 and led her to become a pioneer in the fight for civil rights.
Sit-ins
On a warm July day in 1944, Hattie Duvall, a middle-aged woman from St. Louis, Missouri, walked back and forth in front of a department store carrying a sign that read: I INVESTED FIVE SONS IN THE SERVICE. Hattie wasnât simply boasting about her sons. She was protesting the discrimination she would face if she went into the store and sat at the lunch counter. She knew no one would serve her. In fact, they might ask her to leave the store.
This was especially hurtful for Hattie. She had indeed âinvested five sonsâ in the war effort. Her sons had been part of the D-day invasion in Franceâthe largest amphibious invasion of all time. She thought her contribution to the war effort gave her the right to eat where she wanted.
A year before Hattie protested outside the St. Louis department store, a group of black citizens in Washington, DC, carried signs as they protested in front of a restaurant there. It was the spring of 1943, and the protestors were students at Howard Universityâa predominantly black university. They were trying the direct-action approach in an attempt to bring civil rights to black citizens in the nationâs capital city.
The students carried signs too:
OUR BOYS, OUR BONDS, OUR BROTHERS ARE FIGHTING FOR
YOU. WHY CANâT WE EAT HERE?
WE DIE TOGETHERâWHY CANâT WE EAT TOGETHER?
They felt that since their friends and family members were fighting and dying in a war for democracy they should have the right to eat where they wanted.
The Howard students were led by a female law studentâPauli Murray. The students were studying civil liberty laws in their classes at the university and knew they were not doing anything illegal. For about a week before the protest the students rallied other students to support the planned protest at a nearby restaurant that had a whites-only policy.
On the day of the âdirect action sit-inââa Saturdayâ12 students went to the restaurant. The students entered in groups of three and asked for service. When they were refused, they took seats and pulled out magazines, books, pens, and paper. They sat quietly and studied. Police arrived and remained outside. The students werenât doing anything illegal.
Black students continued to enter the restaurant in groups of three. They asked for service, were refused, and sat quietly reading. Soon most of the seats in the restaurant were taken by black students who were willing to eat and pay for their foodâbut whom the owner refused to serve. Only a few seats remained for paying white customers.
Pauli Murray led sit-ins at lunch counters in Washington, DC.
The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
Finally, the owner closed the business for the day. He said,
The driver left and returned with the police, who arrested Pauli and her friend for creating a disturbance and violating the segregation laws of Virginia. Before the two women left the bus, Pauli gave another passenger her motherâs name and telephone number. By that evening Pauli was visited in her jail cell by lawyers from the NAACP.
The lawyers were very impressed that Pauli and her friend had taken great care to write in detail everything that had happened to them on the bus. Pauli and her friend got out of jail.The NAACP lawyers made plans to file a lawsuit. Before they could do that, the charges of violating the segregation laws were dropped. But the disturbance charge remained.
This was a turning point in Pauli Murrayâs life. It was one event that led her to law school in 1941 and led her to become a pioneer in the fight for civil rights.
Sit-ins
On a warm July day in 1944, Hattie Duvall, a middle-aged woman from St. Louis, Missouri, walked back and forth in front of a department store carrying a sign that read: I INVESTED FIVE SONS IN THE SERVICE. Hattie wasnât simply boasting about her sons. She was protesting the discrimination she would face if she went into the store and sat at the lunch counter. She knew no one would serve her. In fact, they might ask her to leave the store.
This was especially hurtful for Hattie. She had indeed âinvested five sonsâ in the war effort. Her sons had been part of the D-day invasion in Franceâthe largest amphibious invasion of all time. She thought her contribution to the war effort gave her the right to eat where she wanted.
A year before Hattie protested outside the St. Louis department store, a group of black citizens in Washington, DC, carried signs as they protested in front of a restaurant there. It was the spring of 1943, and the protestors were students at Howard Universityâa predominantly black university. They were trying the direct-action approach in an attempt to bring civil rights to black citizens in the nationâs capital city.
The students carried signs too:
OUR BOYS, OUR BONDS, OUR BROTHERS ARE FIGHTING FOR
YOU. WHY CANâT WE EAT HERE?
WE DIE TOGETHERâWHY CANâT WE EAT TOGETHER?
They felt that since their friends and family members were fighting and dying in a war for democracy they should have the right to eat where they wanted.
The Howard students were led by a female law studentâPauli Murray. The students were studying civil liberty laws in their classes at the university and knew they were not doing anything illegal. For about a week before the protest the students rallied other students to support the planned protest at a nearby restaurant that had a whites-only policy.
On the day of the âdirect action sit-inââa Saturdayâ12 students went to the restaurant. The students entered in groups of three and asked for service. When they were refused, they took seats and pulled out magazines, books, pens, and paper. They sat quietly and studied. Police arrived and remained outside. The students werenât doing anything illegal.
Black students continued to enter the restaurant in groups of three. They asked for service, were refused, and sat quietly reading. Soon most of the seats in the restaurant were taken by black students who were willing to eat and pay for their foodâbut whom the owner refused to serve. Only a few seats remained for paying white customers.
Pauli Murray led sit-ins at lunch counters in Washington, DC.
The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
Finally, the owner closed the business for the day. He said,
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