When they held a 'read-in' at a whites-only library, they were arrested: Seven Days of 1961 podcast
On the "Seven Days of 1961" podcast, activists, many of whom were teenagers, share how they risked everything to challenge white supremacy.
On episode three, Ethel Sawyer shares how she and eight other students from Tougaloo Southern Christian College, a private, historically Black school outside Jackson, walked into the public library designated for white patrons only to stage a "read-in." It was March 27, 1961, in Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, where the Ku Klux Klan reigned, bombings of Black churches were frequent and the number of lynchings was the highest in the country.
The read-in led by the students who became known as the Tougaloo Nine inspired young people across Mississippi to take action, setting the stage for demonstrations at other Black colleges and galvanizing a community around the fight for civil rights.
The “Seven Days of 1961” podcast features stories of resistance, told by the people who lived it. Learn more about the heroic civil rights activists and the danger they faced at 7daysof1961.usatoday.com.
Follow the podcast on whichever podcast app you prefer, so you don't miss an episode.
More:‘You could be killed any minute’: Civil rights veterans share horrors of battling white supremacy
Hit play on the podcast player above and read along with the transcript below.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
So, I'm thinking, I sure hope the police hurry up and get here to arrest us before this crowd gets us.
Nathalie Boyd:
On March 27th, 1961, nine students from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi risked violence, incarceration and their lives when they staged a read in at a whites only public library. All nine were arrested. I'm podcast producer, Nathalie Boyd. We're taking you back to this day through the lived experience of one of the students who fought for integration. Ethel Sawyer Adolphe was just 20 years old when she and her fellow protestors became known as the Tougaloo Nine. Here she is at 81, describing what she remembers about that historic day.
Nathalie Boyd:
This is the Seven Days of 1961 podcast, hear history from the people who made it.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
The movement around us hadn't started and I read somewhere that the library would be a safer place for the sitting, than say a lunch counter, so...
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
Wherever that it was decided that we would go, I would have gone. Because I think I was just committed, I think it was something I felt I should do. We physically went to the black library first, I remember that. And then, I remember walking down the sidewalk beside the black library and I remember we were on our way to the white library. I don't remember being in any turmoil about it, I don't remember being afraid. Sort of cautious, but I don't remember really being afraid, I don't remember that at all.
Nathalie Boyd:
Challenging segregation was incredibly dangerous anywhere, but particularly in Mississippi. Ethel and her fellow students were taking a stand where the Ku Klux Klan reigned and lynchings were the highest in the country.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
Then we get to the library, we go up the steps, I remember a couple of people going to the desk to ask for their book, the book they were supposed to ask for. And, it was clear to me that the ladies at the desk were having problems giving the two Tougaloo Nine people who were at the desk the book. Okay. So, I just decided to get a book off the shelf. They were long tables where a number of people could sit, so I got a book off the shelf and I sat down. I don't know how long we were there, but it was a short time I'm sure. But, I'm spending the time pretending to read and just glancing around at my fellow colleagues. We didn't sit together, we sat apart.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
There were big windows on this library and I'm sitting facing these windows and I see this crowd gathering outside. This threatening crowd and people shaking their fist and you could see them talking and yelling. You can't hear what they're saying, but. So I'm thinking, I sure hope the police hurry up and get here to arrest us before this crowd gets us.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
So, the police come and told us we had to leave. And we didn't and we just kept silent, we didn't say anything, we just stayed where we were. They didn't touch me and I don't recall anybody saying they touched them and then they said, "You're under arrest." And we got up and left with the police.
Nathalie Boyd:
The students were charged with breach of the peace.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
When we left the library under arrest we came around the corner, that's where the people gathered and they were yelling and booing and I don't know what all they were saying. I don't remember all that they were saying, but they were not nice things. And, that's when I just threw my head in the air and that's what was caught on the photos. And in my mind, I was snubbing them. I was saying, heck with you, I threw my head in the air because of what they were doing. And they took us to jail.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
I was taken from my cell and interrogated. A very small, tiny little room with two, and I'd describe them as seemingly very tall men. They might not have been, but I remember one of them, as he was interrogating me he had his foot on the chair where I sat. They were asking questions. Basically what they were trying to do was to get me to say Medgar Evers was behind this. And, I asked them, "Why you'd think we students didn't do this ourselves, didn't plan this?" And one of them said, "Because you're not smart enough." That just hit me the wrong way. And so I said, "Okay, I'm tired of your two cents psychology and I want my lawyer." And they let me go. They took me back to my cell.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
I would say it was a big cell. We had the four cots, or whatever you call them to sleep on. And then there was a big old, pretty large space where we could just sit, because they locked us out of our beds during the day. And I remember us expressing a little bit of concern about how the women in the other cells, how they were going to treat us and there were no problems at all. As a matter of fact, they entertained us late into the night with their stories, whatever their different stories. And I think I remember, even our cell and going on over into the area where they were, we'd spent 30 something hours, 35, 36 hours in jail.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
Yes ma'am. But there was no mistreatment of us. We were driven back from the jail to the campus in highway patrol cars. They were driving down the highway and driving pretty fast and I remember thinking, oh, so this is how we're going to die. Now I believe that we were taken back in those police cars to save our ass, because I believe that had we not been, that any car with us on the road back, we probably would not be alive now.
Nathalie Boyd:
Riding with the police may have been their best protection against segregationists. At this time, many activists were killed or went missing while traveling through Mississippi.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
I think we took them by surprise and that's what saved us. Because, the next day we go to court for the trial, we are walking up the steps to the courthouse, at that time seems to me those steps to the courthouse were kind of tall, and here are these cops with their German shepherd dogs and one comes towards me as I'm climbing the step. Another one said, "She's one of the defendants." Maybe I should have been a heck of a lot more scared. And the people who were not able to get into the courthouse because it was crowded, began applauding us as we climbed the step. And then, that's when they sic the dogs, they start beating the people just because they applauded us. And they started beating them and sic their dogs on them. And, I understand from reading that Medgar Evers was in that group that they beat. And then, I learned that Jackson State students demonstrating on our behalf, on behalf of the issue and I understand there were three people who were expelled from Jackson State for their role in support of the city.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
I remember some of my family's reaction. My oldest sister was living in Chicago at the time, she said, "I called your ma and I said, 'Your daughter's in jail'". And she said, "Your mama said, 'Ethel knows what she's doing.'" When she told me that my mouth fell open and then I just smiled and I was all right. It's something I felt I should do. Maybe that's why I was never really that bothered, because it didn't gain a lot of acknowledgement or whatever have you. I didn't do it for anybody to acknowledge it, I did it because that's what I felt I should.
Nathalie Boyd:
The read in set the stage for many young people to protest in Mississippi, galvanizing a community around the fight for civil rights. Today, a marker honoring the Tougaloo Nine stands outside the abandoned library building and in May of 2021, Tougaloo College awarded all nine activists honorary doctorate degrees.
Ethel Sawyer Adolphe:
I remember saying this at Tougaloo one year, "We have a long way to go." I said it then and it's interesting now, we have a long ways to go. And, I'm not surprised about the state of the things now. I'm going to tell you, as I watch the news and the coverage of the previous President, I just thought, why don't they just cut the bullshit and deal with the fact that there's great resentment? And, there is great fear on the part of some white Americans, about the extent to which people of color have been gaining ground in this society. I think we played around with it and with this explanation, that explanation, that and that and that and now, it's coming right down to, people are going to have to deal with what it really is.
Nathalie Boyd:
The Seven Days of 1961 podcast is produced and edited by me, Nathalie Boyd. Deborah Barfield Berry reported this episode and Jasper Colt produced the interview. You can see images of Ethel, videos of the protest and read Deborah's full story about the Tougaloo Nine at sevendaysof1961.usatoday.com.
Nathalie Boyd:
Thank you for listening. Tell your friends about the podcast. We want more people to hear these firsthand stories of protest and change. Please write us a review on Apple Podcasts, it helps more people find the show and you can tweet us at USA Today.
Nathalie Boyd:
On the next episode, Hank Thomas shares his memories of the Freedom Rides. In Alabama a white mob set his bus on fire, forcing activists out and into the violent blows of white supremacists. The brutal vicious confrontation could have ended the group's 14 day mission to desegregate public interstate accommodations. Instead, more Freedom Riders boarded buses and headed into hostile territory.
Nathalie Boyd:
That story next time. See you then.