The People Behind San Antonio’s Remarkable Lunch Counter Integration

On February 1, 1960, four African-American college students challenged racial segregation by sitting down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.  They inspired a student-led sit-in movement to integrate lunch counters across the South.   Students in some cities endured arrests and bystander violence, but not in San Antonio.

Seven downtown stores, including Woolworth’s on Alamo Plaza, peacefully and voluntarily integrated their lunch counters on March 16, 1960.  The eight people pictured below played key roles in San Antonio’s landmark event, which set a positive example for the rest of the country (More about them coming soon) .

These courageous women and men included NAACP officers, and Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic religious leaders, many of whom belonged to the San Antonio Council of Churches. Council of Churches members not pictured include: Rev. Cecil A. Ray, Archbishop Robert E. Lucey, and Rev. Edwin A. Juraschek.