J. J. Newberry Co. Department Store

Introduction

On Friday, July 26, 1963, twelve young African-Americans from Prince Edward County staged a sit-in at the lunch counter in the J. J. Newberry Co. department store formerly located here. After the demonstrators left, employees removed the stools, preventing further sit-ins from taking place. Other protesters handed out leaflets calling on African-Americans in surrounding counties to use their spending power as economic leverage and to boycott segregated businesses. They hoped to pressure businessmen into hiring African-American employees and to exert pressure on local officials to open the closed public schools.

An image of African American students staging a sit-in at a lunch counter, overlooked by a white teenager

Photo: VCU Libraries

Explore Map Back to Places