THE REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. IN DECATUR AP Photo

Illegally sentenced in a DeKalb County court to four months of hard labor on a false traffic charge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put systemic injustice on trial in the court of public opinion. Wikimedia Commons Stop Changed History Changed Stop King Jr.’s DeKalb Traffic How Dr. Martin Luther trial: on injustice systemic Putting Timeline Lillian Smith Criminal CourtandJail, of DeKalbCounty’s Civiland Trinity site PlaceinDecaturistheformer ofMcDonoughStreetThe corner andWest white woman, Smith, writer Hospital, Lillian to Emory where CliftonRoad. It was May 4,1960, and King was driving a at times,” all aDeKalb County officer Kingpulled over on vowed to keep Martin Luther King Jr. “under surveillance Months afterGeorgia’s segregationist Gov. Ernest Vandiver power of Black voters to bring change. accelerating rights civil the movement and revealing the with onlybehalf days to go before presidential the election, F. Kennedy to intercede with Southern politicians on King’s sentence illegal the prompted Senator John rightsthe civil stifle movement. Instead, were hoping to amessage send that would misdemeanor Segregationists traffic case. of hard labor for violating probation ina chains asentence of to serve four months Jr. was sentenced, and jailed driven off in Rev. 1960the October Martin Luther King insisted were they over pulled she, because parishioner, had tag expired. whose Smith rowed from an Baptist Ebenezer Church February. King was driving avehicle, bor Atlanta from Montgomery, Alabama, that and , had who moved to had come for dinner at home the of Martin she was receiving cancer treatments. She 2 Atlanta from Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. MartinLuther King Jr. movesto where in Feb. 1,1960 Luther King Jr.Luther The Rev. Dr. Martin

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_ OLIVER ST. HERRING ST. (NOW W. TRINITY PL.) _ ATLANTA AVE. MARSHALL ST. MAP NOTTOSCALE ( NOW W. PONCEDELEONAVE. 3 _ COOPER ST. COURTHOUSE COUNTY DEKALB _ JAIL COUNTY BUILDING/ DEKALB COURTHOUSE COUNTY _ N. McDONOUGH ST. ) COLLEGE CITY HALL DECATUR AGNES _ SCOTT _ CHURCH ST.

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_ Photo AP CHEWNING ST. and restaurants aswellfairtreatment by police. people equalaccess toeducation, jobs, housing, voting, hospitals, theaters “An lawsdenyingBlack Appeal forHumanRights”callstheabolitionof demandsthe of Black people treated to be went equally large- as abusiness-friendly standout Jim inthe Crow South. But ing efforts by Mayor William B. Hartsfield to promoteAtlanta rightsThe civil movement was heating threatenup in1960, - Atlanta’s StudentsBegintoMove terms, were which to avoid violating law the inany respect. andviction his lawyer agreed incourt to Mitchell’s probation gang. King paid a$25fine to resolvethe misdemeanor con- “on public the works camp,” known as achain otherwise to and Georgia, gave himasuspended sentence of 12months his Alabama driver’s licensemore than 90days after moving “driving without alicense,” on King’s based continued of use Mitchell convicted King of misdemeanor the offense of that arenewal application submitted. had already been But The expiredtag charge was dropped after King showed 1960, appearing before Judge J. Oscar Mitchell inDecatur. King quietly answered his traffic summons Sept. 23, on as awhite woman, was sharing acar with aBlack man. 9,1960 _ in the1950s. The DeKalbBuilding

_ OLIVER ST. HERRING ST. (NOW W. TRINITY PL.) _ ATLANTA AVE. MARSHALL ST. MAP NOTTOSCALE ( NOW W. PONCEDELEONAVE. 3 _ COOPER ST. COURTHOUSE COUNTY DEKALB _ JAIL COUNTY BUILDING/ DEKALB COURTHOUSE COUNTY DeKalb HistoryCenter _ N. McDONOUGH ST. ) COLLEGE CITY HALL DECATUR AGNES _ SCOTT _ CHURCH ST.

_ segregated restaurants in Atlanta. more thantwohundred collegestudentsasktobeserved in The Atlanta Student Movementlaunchesitssit-incampaignas unconstitutional, public schools and many facilities remained cation declaring ruling “” to be doctrines despitefirm; the SupremeCourt’s Brown Board v. Eduof - Montgomeryful bus boycott. Segregationists were holding white Americans himonly knew of as leader the success the - King, at that point, had yet to spend anight injail. Many ment was losing steam. desegregate. But as spring stretched into summer, move their - involving waves of arrests, hoping to pressure store owners to written by students. The studentslaunched boycotts and sit-ins to sow hatred and discord, couldn’t which possibly have been races separate, denounced appeal the as acommunist effort Times Record, and was republished inits entirety inThe New York newspapers on March 9,1960,was read into Congressional the students’ manifesto appeared as an advertisement inAtlanta forcase ending inequality areas racial inall of public life. The writingthe of “An Appeal for Human Rights,” made which the and sit-ins. Roslyn Pope, asenior then at Spelman College, led the defied go-slow advice their of elders by organizingboycotts Greensboro, N.C.,formed Atlanta the Student Movement and Atlanta University Center schools, inspired by sit-ins the in This dynamic changed afterBlack college students the six at challenging segregation. campaign advisors couldn’t figuredthey Souththe win by can Richard M.Nixon and Democrat John F. Kennedy, whose ly unacknowledged by presidential the candidates, Republi - March 15,1960 Nixon attheirSeptember1960debate Presidential candidatesKennedyand

_ . Vandiver, had who won promising election to keep the _ _ 4 _ _ _

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_ Photo AP win the South by challenging segregation. bychallenging South win the Kennedy, whose advisors figuredthey couldn’t Richard M.NixonandDemocratJohnF. presidentialby the Republican candidates, treated wentlargelyunacknowledged equally demandsofBlackpeopletobe .the ing noGeorgia driver’s license (his Alabama licensewasvaliduntil 1962). Emory Hospitalfor cancertreatments. He’s cited foranexpired tagandhav- DeKalb policestopKingonClifton Road whiledriving writerLillianSmithto at theRich’s lunchcounter indowntownAtlanta. MLK andstudentprotesters followingtheirarrest people convicted charges. on trivial authorities legal in which rights the sold to labor the of successor to convict post-Reconstruction the leasing system omnipresent fear was sent being to “public works camps,” the Black people into accepting of idea the white superiority. An cheap or no-cost labor across South the and to terrorize oppression after designed the Civil War to keep supplying ed, shaped by of experience living the under systems of The fears Americansthese older of African were well-found- SendsKingto‘Klan Country’ A ‘Betrayal’ Baptist Church, urged his son to stay out of sit-ins. the Sr., nationally influentialsenior pastoras the of Ebenezer LeadershipChristian Conference. Even Martin Luther King of King’sdiscouraged tactics disobedience civil the Southern across divided racially South. the Meanwhile, NAACP the May 4,1960 _ _ _

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_ penal statutes,” orfaceuptoayear inprisonforthe misdemeanor. DeKalb Judge J. OscarMitchell he“shallnotviolateanyfederal orstate King paysa$25finefordrivingwithout a license,“correct” andpromises rights civil were leaders who courtroom, terrifying convinced Solicitor Jack Smith ordered King to appear inMitchell’s violated probation the termsby set Judge Mitchell. DeKalb Unknown to others movement, inthe King’s arrest had that King remained injail aftereveryone was else released. ins. But of cries rang betrayal out activists realized the when counters inexchange for atemporary moratorium on sit- the drop charges the and promise to eventually desegregate lunch field brokered The department adeal: storeowners would segregated stores and keep sit-ins the from escalating, Harts- motto. Eagerto end Black the community’s boycott of the busy .to hate,” would which become city’s the enduring Hartsfieldbegan negotiating, describing Atlanta as “a city too King among treatment their them, national became news. color of his skin. store that year, solely yet ameal of was because denied the politely pointing out that he had spent some $2,000at the in segregated stores across Atlanta. He was handcuffed after store, and was among dozens arrested that day for trespassing whites-only inthe dining roomserved of Rich’s department 19,1960,Martinities. Luther OnOct. King Jr. asked to be him to join effort their to desegregate Atlanta’s public- facil fromlead back,” the and persuaded father’s sermon, that “you can’t Martin Luther King of his Lonnie King, reminded Sept. 23,1960 But students’ the leader, The students weretaken the to FultonCounty Jail, andwith face charges thathe be transportedto Atlanta, aboutto DeKalb Countyto violated hisparole. his release from _ handcuffs, after _ MLK isledin _ 6 _ _ _

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_ _ _ _ 6 _ _ _ _ appeal. With Kennedys the now publicly responsibility taking Kennedy Mitchell called asking for King’s release pending his press his concern, and attorney his soon-to-be general Robert Democrats, John Kennedy Coretta Scott called King to ex- Despite his reluctance support to lose among white Southern presidentialthe The election. Republicans remained silent. Nixon and Kennedy to public take stands only days before Worried King his supporters would killed, be appealed to the crossis “This we bearmust forfreedomthe of people.”our Stateville Prison, where he wrote aletter to his wife, saying Before dawn next the day, King was transferred to Reids- and sent King upstairs to county the jail. release on bond pending appeal, but Mitchell that, denied too, labor. Hollowell immediately asked for King’s tion, sentencing himto four months’ hard and declared King inviolation of his proba- King’s character. good He pounded his gavel ments by Atlanta’s college presidents about King’s lawyer Donald Hollowell and state- King’smissed testimony, arguments the of DeKalb County courtroom, Mitchell dis- 25,1960,presidingOn Oct. over acrowded cross‘This isthe wemustbear.’ his life, saying DeKalb was “Klan Country.” lawthe wouldn’t protect him.Coretta Scott King feared for trespassing after askingtobeservedlunch atRich’s DepartmentStore. King joinsthe Atlanta Student Movement’s sit-insandischarged with Oct. 19,1960

_ never seenagain,ranthrough hismind.” men were pluckedfrom and cells their wherein justice, scoressouthern ofBlack terrors the latertoldmethat Martin of hands inmetalcuffs behindhisback... takenfromimmediately courtroom, the his Iwatchedinhorror was asMartin _ _ 7 _ — Coretta King Scott _ _ Judge OscarMitchell _ _

DeKalb History Center

The DeKalb County courtroom where King was sentenced to four months on the chain gang.

for the political consequences, Mitchell reversed himself on Oct. 26, setting bond at $2,000. On Oct. 27, King was released from prison. He thanked the Kennedys for their intervention, and then returned on a charter flight to a jubilant crowd at Peachtree DeKalb airport.

The Blue Bomb King’s father, who had endorsed Nixon only days earlier, led the celebration at Ebenezer Baptist Church that night, urg- ing Black voters to switch their allegianc- es. Martin Luther King Sr.’s endorsement was reprinted in the “blue bomb,” a pam- phlet mass-produced by Kennedy aides and Black church workers. More than a million copies praising the Kennedys’ intervention appeared in Black churches around the nation on the Sunday before the election. Republican Black voters in key states turned out for the Democrat

Below: DeKalb County’s 1960 Jail Docket notes King’s arrest for violation of parole.

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Charges against the protesters are dropped in a deal to eventually end segre- gation in Atlanta, but DeKalb Solicitor Jack Smith summons King to Decatur. Mitchell sentences him to four months on the “public works” — a chain gang. 8 9 DeKalb History Center AP Photo

instead in huge numbers, providing the margin that enabled Kennedy to narrowly win the presidency and forever reshap- ing American politics. A Georgia appeals court would rule in 1961 that Mitch- ell’s sentence was illegal. By then, this pivotal episode had already marked a turning point. Locally, it inspired transfor- mative changes in DeKalb County and Decatur. Nationally, it elevated King’s stature, energized the and by showing the power of Black voters to decide elections, revealed how the political system can work for all Americans.

______King supporters and aides to John F. Kennedy persuade the Democratic presidential candidate to call Coretta Scott King expressing sympathy and support. She leaks word of the call, giving Georgia’s segregationist Democrats political cover to intervene. 8 9 _ Georgia Historical Marker Marker Historical Georgia High Decatur for Advocate School Students Campaign King Commemorating The taken from the DeKalb County Jail and driventoReidsville State Prison. At 4a.m., before King’s attorney DonaldHollowell canfileanappeal, Kingis and force hopefully government federal the to end legalized opinion, making King to amartyr mobilize mass resistance tomined put entire the system court of inthe on public trial representatives. Movement leaders,meanwhile, were deter justice system would humiliate most even their prominent movementthis by showing Black people that criminal the engage on rights. civil of Southern cities in1960,and compelled John F. Kennedy to already committed being by hundreds of students indozens brought national attention of to acts the disobedience civil systemic injustice. American racial His stature and sacrifice King’s harsh punishment for offense such atrivial exposed of systemicracismincivicinstitutions? How wasKing’s experienceinDecaturanexample attempt toaddress them: King Jr.’s treatment inDecatur1960.Here isabrief about thecontext,impactandlegacyofMartinLuther McDonough Street, raisedsomeimportant questions ofWestmarker atthecorner Trinity PlaceandNorth The Georgia HistoricalSociety, inapproving the Learn to More across story the our community. and worked then legacy to share stand episode’s this context and High students School conducted who research to better under was sentenced resulted from efforts the groupof a Decaturof GeorgiaThe markerSociety Historical the siteat where King Oct. 26,1960 _ Georgia’s segregationist leaders were hoping to smother _ _ 10

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_ _ _ _ 10 _ _ _ _ edged byedged citizens everyday go evenas about they lives their an internalized ranking, unspoken, unnamed, unacknowl- itcalls a“caste upon system, based what people looked like, physical, to preempt resistance before it imagined.” can be owntheir talents, is with violence and terror, psychological and ings fixed inan beneathallplace, others artificially beneath and contents if its most egregious abuses were most evident South. inthe interaction Blacks between andevery whites even inAmerica, becoming omnipresent and unstoppable, seemingly governing oppressionracial expanded beyond economic the sphere, lynchings and of other acts extra-judicial terror as systemic abuses inforced-labor camps around South. the state and national,” wrote Stetson Kennedy, documented who ration and covert sanction of government at levels —local, all gang. work ered fraud, punishable by debt slavery, prison or convict the or tenant farmer deviated from alabor contract, it was consid - place to place without any lawful purpose.” If aNegro worker Black, criminalizing “strolling while tocrime walk about from exclusively against people of color. Some literally made it a steady supply of forced labor. law to convict Black people offenses of trivial and provide a “exceptservitude as apunishment for crime,” states the used After theAmendment 13th abolished slavery and involuntary benefitingfrom thelabor of peopleBlack at little or no cost. South afterthe Civil War,thatso white people could justify and effectivelycy re-enslave Americans African acrossthe of oppression legal maintained to ensure white suprema- to law the respect of Georgia,” he was referring to asystem “might make alaw-abiding citizen out of himand teach him Geer,Zack declared at King’s sentencing that chain the gang discriminationracial once and for all. Mitchell, andsets King’s whoreverses himself bondat$2,000. King pendinghisappeal. Attorney DonaldHollowellappears againbefore Robert F. Kennedy callsMitchell, urging thejudgetofollowlawandfree

_ More than just discrimination, racial legalized Wilkerson As Isabel Wilkerson writes inCaste: TheOrigins Ourof - Dis sanctionsCovert of government, meanwhile, extended to system could “The notfunctionwithout the - collabo overt How Vagrancy trivial? laws in48states were enforced nearly When Gov. Georgia Ernest Vandiver’s top aide, Peter _ only way, “The to keep an entiregroup sentientof be- _

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_ on ifnot for King’s mistreatment inDecatur, where some presidential looming, election would media the have moved County any good,” concluded. story the it didn’t aspects, legal the do‘Decatur, Georgia,’ and DeKalb King’s mistreatment. “One thing is for sure. Regardless of sisted that reporters note that Atlanta had nothing to dowith fora martyr his people and his cause,” and that Hartsfield in- DeKalblocal News reported that “King immediately became asking for ahearing court of inthe world opinion.” established courts of region, the nonviolent protesters are unjusta particularly law absence .inthe of justice inthe is to bring moral pressure toupon bear an unjust system or disobedience,”civil King wrote later. main objective “The wagons out of back, beyond press. view the the Rich’s that morning were handcuffed and stuffed into paddy doors, most of other the 47student protesters arrested at Marilyn to jail without Pryce handcuffsthrough Rich’s front Lonnie King and Spelman students Blondean and Orbert Police Capt. Little King, escorted R.E. movement co-founder despite Atlanta’s effort to show a gentle hand. While Atlanta dreds of arrests. King put national back inthe them news, sit-ins weakening had been after months of effort and hun- The Atlanta Student Movement’scampaign boycottsof and suppress themovement? ongoing, systemicefforts bylocalofficials to How didKing’s notorietybringattentiontothe defeated.could be systemic the racism andthat exposed proved fully that it support for cause. their It was King’s punishment inDecatur segregated to sustain spaces.But attention struggled they and “An Appeal for Human Rights” and getting then arrested in classdle —sought to make system the visible by publishing . Its invisibility very is what gives it power and longevity.” adhering to it and upon acting it subconsciously to day. this Church toswitchfrom Republican toDemocrat andvoteforKennedy. on Clairmont Avenue. Hisfatherurges ajubilant crowd atEbenezerBaptist King leaves prison and rejoins family and friends at DeKalb Peachtree Airport Oct. 27,1960 _ Atlanta hard tried to minimizeKing’s arrest, and with the King’s sentence was condemned around world. the The “Public relations of part any necessary protest is avery of Atlanta’s college students pride —the of Black the mid- _ _ 12 _ _ _ _ _ WSB-TV Newsfilm, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection _ _

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WSB-TV Newsfilm, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection media attention. refusal tointervenecirculates inmajor African American churches, escaping The “bluebomb”pamphletpraising Kennedy andnotingRichard Nixon’s risk secret,perhapsthis to maximize shock the thereafter. inAtlantadisobedience despite his risk inDecatur, and kept first-person suggestrecollection King chose to commit civil risk of violating parole. The court record Lonnieand King’s yearsrecalled later that King had nearly backed out, citing his him to get arrested relative inthe of Fulton security County, acknowledge incourt. And Lonnie King, had who lobbied for accepting probation the terms, Mitchell which forced himto and to risk his decided freedom anyway. he sentenced couldknew be harshly ifhe joined sit-ins, the poraneous accounts. news But other indicates evidence King mony supported his image as an unwitting incontem victim - agreed to traffic inthe onlycase weeks earlier. King’s testi- unawarehe had been of probation the terms his lawyer had King because part told Mitchell at 25sentencing his Oct. that largelyhas been overlooked by historians. This maybe in justice toward Black people. all system that mercilessness so the he could expose of Southern segregationists DeKalb running County’s justice criminal stakes gamble, putting himself at mercy of the hard-core the suggestsevidence King knowingly risked his life inahigh- attorney, DonaldHollowell, standsbehindhim. King speaks withthepress asheleaves Reidsville State Prison onOct. 27, 1960. His Nov. 6,1960 _ “It was adeliberate stratagem to have arrested, himbe which King couldn’t deny his signature on plea document the maneuveringtactical This by King theand student leaders _ _

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_ part bysurging Blackturnout inkey states. John F. Kennedy iselectedpresident, hisnarrow victorymargin secured in to adapt. segregationists were they on losing the sideand would have change would much take longer, but King’s showed victory law was no longer defensible innational lasting politics. Real, denying Black people most the treatment equal basic under It proved aturning to be point, showing white leaders that politics andthecivilrightsmovement? How didKing’s treatment inDecaturaffect state blame Massachusetts the Democrats for any fallout. action to himknowing free that at inGeorgia could least, they nationwide over King’s harsh sentence, “Dixiecrats” the took F. Kennedy’s phone to judge. the call As condemnation grew reverse leaning his ruling, on his connections up to set Robert workeder then through to middlemen pressure Mitchell to cover for Georgia’s segregationist leaders. Gov. Ernest Vandiv- support gave leverage to movement the and provided political ing that John F. Kennedy her. had called This sign of federal pregnant wife of —she amartyr played akey role by reveal- clean. .It wasn’t incidental or accidental at all.” Human probation Rights. “The requiredthat he his keep nose Charles Black, co-founder of Committee the on Appeal the for would violate his probation and bring national attention,” said on Aug. 28, 1963. (APPhoto) theMarch on King andotherleadersWashington of meetKennedy at the White House Nov. 8,1960 _ Coretta Scott King, for wasn’t her part, just distraught the _ _ 14 _ _ _

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_ Photo AP opposed. Northernerwith infavor almost every Southerner and every months-long filibusterRichard Sen. led by Russell Georgia, of with national acclaim. “slavery’s hewhich called stepchild,” intestimony that was met southerncallingelected official in for an segregation,end to nedy was assassinated broke —Allen other ranks with every before March the on Washington and four months before Ken- ident’s before to testify call Congress inJuly 1963—amonth crazy” and harming Atlanta’s reputation. Answering pres the - after King’s arrestthat “the national publicityrunning was us ident negotiated in1960,Allen with students, the complaining to Atlanta Mayor Ivan As Allen. Chamber of Commerce pres- for what would Rights become Civil the Act of 1964,he turned converted enemies into When allies. Kennedy support needed Amendment. But Atlanta the students’ campaign eventually Proclamation segregation declaring all inviolation of 14th the thatidea president the could make Emancipation aSecond formally Kennedy 1961,when until October rebuffed King’s King’s repeated appeals for progress. Thetwo men didn’t meet in his inaugural address, and took no immediate action on him like an insect. fumigation machine and locking him inside, literally treating restaurant responded to ’s sit-in by switching on a president,elected amanager at asegregated Nashville other might direct actions also produce tangible results. King’s arrest could put apresident White inthe House, then Martin Luther King Jr. biggest the Negro United inthe States.” white sayingfolks have an “These ed observer now made Dr. King, The it Pittsburgh made himakingmaker: Courier quot- ment for offense. most the trivial And ratherthan humiliate way,this no Black spared person could be from dire punish - systemlegal could treat esteemed the Martin Luther King Jr. “illegal,” hisprobation were therefore andthetermsof void. Georgia rulesinKing vs.CourtAppeals of State that King’s sentencewas March 7,1961 _ Congress approved Rights Civil the Act ayear later, after a Kennedy didn’t even mention segregation, rights civil or race Those results took years. The day after Kennedy was The episode showedpotential activists, meanwhile,that if King’s mistreatment showed potential white that allies ifthe _ _

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_ in with court challenges to force change. As put it of and disobedience civil economic pressure could combine showed Atlanta the Student Movement how coordinated acts The outsized response to King’s mistreatmentDecatur in areas? Did thiseventimpacttacticsorstrategiesinother Nine blackstudentsenterall-whitehigh schoolsin Atlanta. King’s inDecatur. experience court order.the sustained protests before Mayor pushed Allen to implement unconstitutional Amendment, under 14th the and more judge down struck Atlanta’s remaining segregation laws as “all deliberate speed.” It took yet another year before afederal tion that public schools must desegregate nationwide with since Supreme the inBrown ruled Court v. of Board Educa - schools, on Aug. years 30,1961.By seven then, had passed ter nine Black students finallyenteredthe city’s all-white high Commerce to talks. busythe Easter shopping to force season, Chamber the of ofniversary sit-ins the inMarch 1961,and aboycott during arrests by students insisting on not “jail bail” on first the an- toleaders refused with meet students. the It took waves of and Ku Klux members Klan Atlanta’s paraded, while business staged counter-demonstrations at students’ the picket lines, Surrender,” agroup by led governor-elect Lester Maddox, launch initiatives, new including voter registration efforts. Non-Violent Coordinating Committee to hire more staff and LeadershipSouthern Christian Conference and Student the ing that came with King’s national new stature enabled the own action intheir take communities. And fundrais the - endure prison, could many so more —to recruit people to nence as principal the symbol of southern the movement.” in favor of ,and King had thrust to promi new - prisonville “had resolved debate the about rights civil methods Aug. 30,1961 But Charles Black said there was abefore and after to Atlanta’s lunch counters weren’t desegregated until days af- Hostile whites pushed also back. “Georgians Unwilling to Movement leaders leveraged King’s notoriety —ifhe could _ Cross the Bearing _ , the sit-ins, the and King’s brief stay inReids- _ 16 _ _ _

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_ Warren M. disobedience. Itdisobedience. can have results.” isthis worth doing —let’s stay course the on non-violent civil — ifhis arrest can have impact this on nation, this hey, then clearlya big So deal. people were inspired across country the arrest made difference the in getting Kennedy That’selected. moment,” Black said. “Folks made connection the that King’s the sit-insbeganin February 1960. Lunch countersare desegregated in Atlanta, the104thcitytodososince Black students; and her ambition for to run public office. Then her persistence indemanding that Decatur High accept School to give her first the card library issued to American; an African towillingness challenge Decatur-DeKalb the Regional Library Ku the when Klux marched Klan on Decatur the square; her Decatur and key events inher life: her intimidated to refusal be “strength the between and determination” King showed in students Adelaide Taylor and Watson, Liza drew adirect line Wilson,Elizabeth with Decatur inan interview High School Mayor EmeritaElizabeth Wilson eyewitnesses cost. included:to history These and inspiring community donations for marker’s the $5,000 Black Alliance for Human Rights, winning unanimous support findingsDecatur the to Commission City Beacon theand Hill ticipants of and events the observers of 1960,and presented its CommemoratingThe KingDecatur in par team interviewed History to Eyewitnesses September 1961 Katrina M. Walker, Roslyn Pope andMichael Warren. Emma Callicutt, Liza Watson, Elizabeth Wilson, Adelaide Taylor, Genesis Reddicks, Clarence Seeliger, DaxtonPettus, CharlesBlack, _ “Movements were inspired across all after country the that _ _

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M. Warren M. Warren 18 It made the big difference in the country in that it in the ledcountry in that difference made the big It Mitchell had been “very abusive toward African had beenSeeliger Mitchell said “very toward abusive - re to Seeliger sought Americans who in his court.” appeared - in a 1980 election, remov Mitchell defeating legacy, that verse Black a hiring and courtroom his flag from a Confederate ing DeKalb County Judge Clarence Seeliger Judge Clarence County DeKalb Activist Charles Black sideways sat judge The hearing. that at was “I was the while bench Hollowell Donald at listening he wasn’t the case, and presenting book, had a comic he said. He anything to this through fact — thumbing of as a matter being was defense book whilecomic King’s turnedto him he finished, had when Hollowell And presented. months!’” through?’ Boom, you ‘four ‘Are said, and of instead that Pettus Daxton student DHS told Black But in point a turning marked gavel Mitchell’s King, humiliating movement. the civil rights “ Nixon over Kennedy F. the electiondirectly John of to in theBlack people among “The said. votes Black in 1960,” to Republican from the country switched across cities major by winning ended up Kennedy election. And in that Democrat that.” of a result as nationwide per precinct vote one than less Elizabeth Wilson with Adelaide Taylor and Liza Watson Watson and Liza Taylor Adelaide Wilson with Elizabeth defines the that the school system save helped she mayor, as in today. live we city serving being in DeKalb being arrested, in jail, King’s “Dr. be of to in the position want to me helped that County, thewholeof history “That Wilson said. a difference,” making the political how is when I saw that politically, Kennedys, and could King if Daddy really, because I guess system work get to helping about the Kennedys contacted never had Coretta have would he long how know Reidsville, I don’t of out Martin been there.” M. Warren M. Warren bailiff, the first in a campaign to diversify the county’s justice system. “Remember, there were laws on the books that said things had to be segregated,” Seelig- er told DHS student Halle Gordon. “And so, in a very real sense, Dr. King was an outlaw. He was challenging the laws that were being used to perpetrate these horrible conditions on our African American citizens.” “All of a sudden the people of the country saw that the legal establishment — the police officers, the sheriffs, the judges and the like — were in the business of oppressing African American people. And to have that so openly dis- played, being seen by so many people, I think maybe made the impression it was time for a change in the South. “That a prestigious man who was standing up for the rights of all of our citizens, as well as African Americans, could be abused in such a manner, I think, sent a message across the country,” he said. “Dr. King should be remembered for that, and sad to say so should Judge Mitchell, because of what he did, what he caused, and what he represented.” M. Warren M. Warren Dr. Roslyn Pope The many injustices de- scribed in “An Appeal for Human Rights” caused “a great deal of harm to our psyches, but we had no choice but to overcome them. We finally real- ized we have to change this,” she told DHS student Genesis Reddicks. “We cannot go through life being segregated and made to feel inferior.” “We set a tone and made a huge change in the fabric of our communities. But changing people’s hearts — that’s a differ- ent matter. And the change is not complete. . . . There are a lot of things that people do to undermine people who are not white. There are still so many problems with education and with economics . . . the fight has to keep going. It was not just a one-time thing.” As for the marker, Pope said “I think the recognition of something momentous that happened right here should in- spire people to say ‘well, we don’t want this anymore. We don’t want this to happen again.’ You know, I think that would be an excellent move to make.” 18 19 In October 1960, in a long-gone building at the corner of North McDonough Street and Trinity Place, the segregationist South sought to make an example of the civil rights movement’s brightest young star. What happened next had a profound impact on Decatur and the state of Georgia, shocking the conscience of many Americans and setting the Kennedy administration on a course to approve major civil rights legislation.

The Commemorating King team included Decatur High School students Liza Watson, Genesis Reddicks, Daxton Pettus, Adelaide Taylor, Emma Callicutt, Halle Gordon and Alonzo Labiosa; teachers Katrina M. Walker and Ben Skillman; and community mentor Michael Warren, who wrote this brochure with their support. The research for this project, including citations, is archived at the DeKalb History Center.

For citations and other information, see dekalbhistory.org/dekalb-county-archives-research and georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/historical-markers

Financial support provided by City of Decatur and the Decatur Visitors Center.