Library Sit-Ins Archives

A sign for the Audubon Library Summer Reading Program at the library's St. Helena Parish branch beckons residents in Greensburg.

March 7, 1964: St. Helena Four Stage Sit-In at Louisiana Library

Four Black teenagers tried to enter the whites-only St. Helena branch of the Audubon Regional Library in Greensburg, Louisiana. Instead, the library closed. Undeterred, the St. Helena Four continued to try to desegregate the local library and other segregated facilities.

A photograph of the Tougaloo Nine, Black activists who staged a read-in at the public library to protest segregation.

March 27, 1961: Jackson, Mississippi Library Sit-In

Nine Tougaloo College students and members of the Jackson Youth Council of the NAACP staged a sit-in to protest segregation at the Jackson Public Library in 1961 and were subsequently arrested.

On July 16, 1960, seven students from Sterling High along with college freshman, Jesse Jackson, entered the library and were arrested. This group became known as the Greenville Eight.

July 16, 1960: Greenville Eight Stage Read-In at Local Library

In an act of civil disobedience against the whites-only Greenville County Public Library, eight young Black people entered the library, began reading, and were subsequently arrested. They became known as the Greenville Eight, and the library finally desegregated months later after many legal battles.

August 21, 1939. Arrest of five young Black men for peaceful protest at the whites-only "public" library in Alexandria, Va.

Aug. 21, 1939: African Americans Arrested for Going to Public Library

Five Black men were arrested for staging a peaceful sit-in at the Alexandria “public” library that denied access to African Americans, making this the anniversary of one of the earliest instances of this form of non-violent protest that became popular in the mid-20th century.