Woolworth's Protest
Woolworth's Protest

This photo was taken on February 13, 1960, the day Patricia Stephens and 10 other students were arrested for attempting to integrate Woolworth's, a restaurant in downtown Tallahassee.

The students were arrested and tried for "disturbing the peace". They were found guilty. Three chose to pay the fine. The others served 49 days at the Leon County Jail.

While Patricia was in jail, she wrote a letter to her parents, saying "we cannot be contented with the conditions here in the south any longer. Our very souls are being taken from us by discrimination."

She also recalled the events that at the protest: "The students were badly mistreated. F.S.U. students were cursed and called 'white niggers' by the policemen. The policemen, led by the Mayor, used tear gas on eight-hundred of our students ... Eight hundred were marching downtown when the cops fired tear-gas on us. I could not anything because a cop threw a tear gas right at me saying 'I want you'".

Sources:
- https://history.fsu.edu/article/black-history-month-story-tallahassee-sit
- https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/329141
- https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/329142?id=5

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