Speaking Truth to Power

Speaking Truth to Power. Our Story Matters. , In fall 1963, African American students marched along Columbia's Main Street to protest businesses that practiced racial segregation, including the Fox Theatre formerly at located on this site. The students carried signs that read "We Shall Overcome," "Jim Crow Must Go," and "Freedom Now.", Denied entry into the theater, the students gathered at Bethel A.M.E. Church (corner of Sumter and Taylor streets). At the church, Benedict College freshman James McDuffie declared, "If the old people won't march in the street, the young people will." For three months, the students kept marching, and African American residents boycotted Main Street stores. In response, Mayor Lester Bates and a group of white businessmen met privately with the NAACP and other African American civic leaders to plan "voluntary desegregation.", On December 12, 1963, ten African Americans attended theaters free of segregation. In July 1964, a national Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in all places of "public accommodation.", "We're prepared to go every step of the way." , Rev. James Hinton, , July 1947 , President, South Carolina NAACP, "The status quo must go." , Thurgood Marshall, , November 1955 , Attorney, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund director who argued South Carolina's Briggs v. Elliott case before the United States Supreme Court, "I beg you to stand up for what you believe is right." , Frederick Hart, , March 1961 , Noted sculptor and University of South Carolina student who was arrested at the 1961 State House protest, "Don't wait any longer." , "Modjeska Simkins, , July 1965 , South Carolina NAACP strategist, banker, journalist, and human rights activist, "Let your conscience be your guide." , Rev. David Carter, , March 1961 , Benedict College theology student who organized civil rights protests and demonstrations in downtown Columbia..