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Northerner John Kasper, leader of a White Citizen’s Council and a staunch segregationist, came to Nashville and spoke to a crowd of white protesters in front of Glenn Elementary School. September 1957. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Although local officials vowed to uphold the law and protect the students, some people passionately protested the plan to desegregate the public schools. September 1957. Photo by Paul Schleicher. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Harry Robb of Chapel Avenue shows a letter his family received from a Ku Klux Klan member a week after his granddaughter, Era May Bailey, was to enroll in the all-white Bailey School. The letter threatened a cross-burning if the family did not move. September 10, 1957. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Parents on the first day of desegregation at Glenn Elementary School in East Nashville. September 9, 1957. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

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Harold D. Street walks his daughter Lajuanda (right) and her friend, Jacqueline Griffith (left), to Glenn Elementary School. September 9, 1957. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Erroll Groves (center) holds the hand of his mother, Iridell Groves, as they walk to Buena Vista School on the first day of desegregation in Nashville’s public schools. September 9, 1957. Photo by Eldred Reaney. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Erroll Groves (left) sat with his new classmates during class at Buena Vista School on the first day of desegregation in Nashville’s schools. Groves was one of three black children who went to the school that day. September 9, 1957. Photo by Eldred Reaney. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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Linda McKinley and Charles Elbert Ridley were the only first-graders at Fehr Elementary School in North Nashville on the day after the bombing of Hattie Cotton Elementary School. September 10, 1957. Photo by Bill Goodman. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

A perplexed little boy surveyed the damage done to Hattie Cotton School by dynamite. September 10, 1957. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

On September 10, 1957, a crowd gathered near Hattie Cotton School after its east wing was bombed. Photo by Paul Schleicher. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

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The first large-scale organized sit-in took place in Nashville on February 13, 1960, when more than one hundred protesters from four local historically black colleges converged on downtown lunch counters, including McLellan’s (seen here). Photo by Bill Goodman. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Several men attempt to drag a nonviolent student sit-in demonstrator from his stool at the lunch counter in the upstairs section of Woolworth’s on Fifth Avenue North. February 27, 1960. Photo by Vic Cooley. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Four Nashville policemen arrive at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, to arrest James Lawson. He was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his participation in the sit-ins. March 4, 1960. Photo by Vic Cooley. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Jean Wynona Fleming, a Fisk University student, behind bars in a Nashville city jail after her arrest at a downtown Moon-McGrath drugstore lunch counter. March 25, 1960. Photo by Jimmy Ellis. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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Officials and neighbors observed the damage to the house of Z. Alexander Looby, a civil rights attorney and Nashville City Council member. Mr. and Mrs. Looby survived the early dawn bombing, though it destroyed their home. April 19, 1960. Photo by Bob Ray. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Silhouetted against disaster, John Thomas Martin wields his broom, sweeping up the fragments of glass from shattered windows in the Meharry Medical College alumni building. In the background, a curious crowd gathers at the bombed home of Z. Alexander Looby. The bombing of the house shattered 147 windows at the college. April 19, 1960. Photo by Joe Rudis. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Like a giant serpent, a line of black college demonstrators wound its way around the courthouse area, coming out from Jefferson Street and James Robertson Boulevard on April 19, 1960, the day of the Z. Alexander Looby bombing. They marched three abreast, with the line stretching across ten blocks. Photo by Eldred Reaney. Courtesy of The Tennessean

On April 19, 1960, the day of the Z. Alexander Looby bombing, as many as four thousand demonstrators marched down Jefferson Street toward city hall. In the first row are Rev. C. T. Vivian (left), Diane Nash of Fisk, and Bernard Lafayette of American Baptist Seminary. In the second row are Kenneth Frazier and Curtis Murphy of Tennessee A&I, and Rodney Powell of Meharry. Using his handkerchief in the third row is Rev. James Lawson.

On April 19, 1960, Mayor Ben West met with Rev. C. T. Vivian and Diane Nash after demonstrators arrived at the courthouse plaza. Photo by Vic Cooley, Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

On April 20, 1960, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Kelly Miller Smith prepared to speak to an audience of more than four thousand at Fisk University following the bombing of the home of prominent civil rights attorney Z. Alexander Looby. Photo by Jack Gunter. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

On April 20, 1960, the day after the bombing of his home, attorney Z. Alexander Looby addressed an audience of four thousand at Fisk University. Looby became emotional after the audience paid tribute to his tireless work for justice in Nashville. Photo by Jack Gunter. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

On April 20, 1960, Guy Carawan (center) performed during a rally at Fisk. John Lewis (right) was one of the student leaders on the stage. Photo by Jack Gunter. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Student demonstrators James Bevel (left) and John Lewis (right) stood inside the Krystal restaurant on Fifth Avenue North while a dense cloud of insect spray filled it; the manager had turned on a fumigating machine to disrupt their sit-in. November 10, 1960. Photo by Jack Corn. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Demonstrators sang in front of the Nashville Police Department on August 7, 1961, protesting what they called police brutality in a racial clash two nights earlier. They criticized “inadequate” police protection and called for qualified black personnel to “replace incompetent officers on the police force.” Photo by Eldred Reaney. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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1960-1964

With Rev. James Lawson (front), white and black demonstrators picketed the Hermitage Hotel, where Tennessee governor Buford Ellington was in a conference. The group was seeking reinstatement of the fourteen “Freedom Riders” dismissed from Tennessee A&I State University in June. September 25, 1961. Photo by Harold Lowe Jr. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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On August 7, 1962, the home of Rev. Cephus C. Coleman (center), a black minister, was destroyed by the third blaze to break out that night. Tusculum firemen (right) stood by to protect other homes in the predominantly white neighborhood off Nolensville Road. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

On February 24, 1963, about sixty black and white demonstrators marched from the First Baptist Church on Eighth Avenue North to protest the segregation policy of the YMCA building. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

On February 24, 1963, a group of men, women, and children gathered in front of the downtown YMCA to protest segregation. About sixty people participated in the demonstration, led by the Nashville Christian Leadership Council. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

Louis Miller, 16, charged with throwing a brick through a car windshield, was put into a paddy wagon at First Baptist Church. May 11, 1963. Photo by Harold Lowe Jr. Courtesy of The Tennessean

In May 1963, Nashville student demonstrators took to the streets in solidarity with protestors in Birmingham, Alabama. Crowd tensions intensified on Sixth Avenue North. Bill Goodman captured fellow Banner photographer Jack Gunter covering the demonstrations. May 10, 1963. Photo by Bill Goodman. Nashville Banner Archives, Nashville Public Library, Special Collections

Black student demonstrators, some wearing their bathing suits, attempted to get into the segregated Cascade Plunge Swimming Club at the State Fairgrounds but were blocked by the pool’s officials and not allowed in. June 19, 1963. Photo by Gerald Holly. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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On August 27, 1963, at the First Baptist Church, a group of black and white Nashvillians boarded buses for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. They were among the 200,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial who heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Photo by Bill Preston. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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On April 27, 1964, civil rights demonstrators sat in Metro jail while waiting to make bond. From left to right: Lester McKinnie, one of the leaders; Allen Wolfe, a Vanderbilt student; William T. Barbee, a Scarritt student; and Frederick Leonard, a Tennessee A&I student. McKinnie had been subdued by police and treated for injuries at General Hospital. Photo by Jack Corn. Courtesy of The Tennessean

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