Martinsville lunch counter integration
Four Martinsville lunch counters were integrated on August 8, 1961, in a coordinated effort to end segregation.
The incidents leading to the integration were written about in the Martinsville Tribune’s August 11, 1961, and Martinsville Bulletin’s August 9, 1961, editions. The original Tribune, on loan from Steve Isom of Fieldale, and copies of the articles from both newspapers for visitors to keep, are part of the Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Museum’s “Connected Community” exhibit.
Ten black men were served at Wampler’s Drug Store, Eagles Stores, Woolworth’s and Fagg’s Drug Store. The Tribune described the men as members of “The Steering Committee;” the Bulletin described them as “apparently ministers and business men in their 40s and 50s.” They entered the buildings around 3 p.m. and most left by 3:15, the Bulletin said.
There were no problems, and few customers left their seat when the black people entered, the Bulletin article said. At the same time the men were being served at the lunch counters, black women were observed making purchases in other parts of the stores, it said.
Efforts to end segregation had begun six months before, with picketing and boycotting, the Tribune stated. Black teenagers, ministers and businessmen boycotted Eagle’s and Woolworth’s variety stores, it said near the beginning of the article; but near the end of the article is the sentence “The boycott against Eagles’s and Woolworth’s variety stores and Wampler’s and Fagg’s drug stores have been called off.”
Students Protest Against Segregation, or SPAS, a group of young black students, aided in the efforts to integrate, the Tribune stated. They picketed every day since February, no matter the weather. The SPAS worked under the direction of The Steering Committee, the Tribune said.
On Saturdays, SPAS picketed in two shifts and were patrolled by black adults, the Tribune stated.
The Bulletin article said that picketing and sit-in demonstrations had occurred at three of the four businesses since February.
At the request of merchants, the Bulletin article said, a Citizens’ Committee was formed to work out a program. The Committee issued this statement after the sit-ins: “Desegregation took place today at four lunch counters according to a preconceived plan. This plan was endorsed by a Citizens’ Committee formed at the request of the involved merchants. The purpose of this Committee was to study and mediate the problems arising from lunch counter desegregation.
“This Committee is composed of eight white and four Negro members; the White-Negro ratio was based on the population ration of the city of Martinsville.
“A number of meetings were held with lunch counter merchants who worked out details for an orderly desegregation. Experiences in neighboring cities as well as opinions from local leading citizens were considered and discussed in formulating the recommendations of the Committee.”
“Only one incident is recalled during the campaign to desegregate the lunch counters, which included two Negro youths, Costa Lee Eggleston and Thurman Gravely, and a white man of Fieldale, Virginia, Paul Martin,” the Tribune stated in the section of the article describing the picketing. “The white man, was convicted and sentenced for assault and battery in City Circuit Court. No other incidents were recalled except minor disturbances which were not reported to the police.”
Meanwhile, the Martinsville and Henry County Christian League, a group of black citizens, met weekly on Monday nights to support the campaign, the Tribune stated, giving the location of the next Monday meeting as High Street Baptist Church, where the Rev. Hezekiah Morris was the pastor.