The Read's Drugstore Sit-In

The Read's Drugstore Sit-In. . , On this site in 1955, a historic sit-in helped to integrate lunch counters throughout the Baltimore region. The sit-in came about through a partnership between Morgan State college students and the Baltimore chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)., Before 1950, only three restaurants outside the Black community served Black Baltimoreans, including one on the Johns Hopkins University campus and one at Penn Station. In 1952, the Baltimore CORE chapter joined a national campaign to push large chain stores to open their lunch counters to Blacks. Four Lexington Street stores did so by 1954: Kresge, McCrory's, Woolworths, and W. t. Grant. But the city's largest drugstore chain, Reads, refused to integrate., Meanwhile, Morgan students had become fed up with being denied service at the Read's lunch counter next to their Northwood campus. The students joined forces with CORE, and in January 1995, they staged simultaneous sit-ins at the Read's in Northwood and here at Howard and Lexington, its flagship store. The Northwood sit-in continued for more than a week, causing the company to lose patrons., After negotiations, Reads' announced on January 20, 1955, that the chain would immediately start serving customers regardless of race at all of its 37 Baltimore-area lunch counters and soda fountains. The victory meant that Blacks could find places to eat throughout Baltimore for the first time. The students "deserve a standing ovation from the entire community," a CORE leader observed., [Captions:] , Read's flagship store, located at this site, c. 1940. , Courtesy of the Maryland Center for History and Culture., These Read's lunch counter stools are now preserved at Morgan State University as a tribute to the students who successfully claimed their right to occupy them. , Original photo by Christopher Myers Photography