May 17, 1954
Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court rules in favor of school integration in “Brown v. Board of Education.” In a second 1955 ruling, the Court reaffirms its decision and orders integration to proceed “with all deliberate speed.” The public schools in Petersburg do not integrate until the 1970-71 academic year.
October 5, 1956
Dr. Martin Luther King speaks at NAACP’s 21st Annual Convention; Petersburg’s Mt. Olivet Baptist Church is filled to capacity, and his talk, “Desegregation in the Future” was broadcast to other local churches.
June 1959
First Library Walk-in
Wyatt Tee Walker, pastor at Petersburg’s Gillfield Baptist Church, and president of the local NAACP chapter, walks through the Petersburg Public Library front door to request Douglass Southall Freeman’s biography of Robert E. Lee. Walker was denied service and told to go to the basement library.
February 23, 1960
S.S. Kresge Company Sit-in
Around 20 Black students sat down at the lunch counter at S.S. Kresge Company (112 N Sycamore St) in Petersburg. Smaller groups of students, primarily from Peabody High School, sit down at the “White Only” lunch counters at McClellan’s and the W.T. Grant Company, in what is considered the “opening salvo of the Civil Rights Movement in Petersburg.”
February 27, 1960
Petersburg Library Sit-in
Under the leadership of Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker, about 140 Black students from Peabody High School and Virginia State College (now VSU) walk into the main entrance of the Petersburg Library and take all the available seats inside. The library closes for the next four days, and the City Council passes a tougher ordinance to deter trespassing and refuses to integrate the library.
March 7, 1960
15 Blacks walk through the front door of the library and take seats inside reserved for whites. 11 are arrested and under the new city ordinance, each facing up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. Five remain in jail for more than 40 hours.
March 8, 1960
Courthouse Prayer Vigil
Approximately 200 people participate in a prayer vigil on the steps of the Petersburg Hustings Courthouse in protest of those in jail for attempting to integrate the library.
March 9, 1960
Zion Baptist Church Rally
The five arrested are freed on bond. A mass rally is held at Zion Baptist Church with more than 1,400 in attendance to protest the anti-trespassing ordinance and segregated practices at the Petersburg Public Library. Martin Luther King Jr. sends a telegram of support. After the rally, lawyers representing those arrested say they will file a federal lawsuit requiring Petersburg to desegregate its public library.
March 14, 1960
Trespassing Trial
Trial of those arrested for trespassing during the sit-in at the Petersburg Public Library. 600 Black supporters fill the courthouse steps and sing hymns and pray. The judge fines Reverend Walker and Williams $100 and sentences them to thirty days in jail for violating the anti-trespassing law. All demonstrators are released on bond pending appeal.
March 21, 1960
Threatening Note
Someone throws a bottle containing an obscene note directed at Reverend Walker’s wife and signed “KKK” at her front window while she and her four children were home alone. It breaks but does not shatter the window. The next day the family requests and receives police protection.
April 5, 1960
In local City Council elections, Reverend Reid loses but places fourth–the most votes ever garnered by a Black candidate in Petersburg city council elections.
April 13, 1960
Petersburg Improvement Association announces a citywide campaign to desegregate lunch counters, schools, and all public facilities and plans two additional lawsuits with the goal of desegregating schools and courtrooms. Its first targets are six segregated lunch counters.
April 1960
Demonstrations take place at the Blue Bird and Century Theaters, Spiro’s Department Store, and the Trailways Bus Station, among other segregated locations.
May 20, 1960
Federal district judge Albert V. Bryan holds a hearing in Richmond on the Petersburg public library case and Reverends Williams and Walker describe the basement room of the library as “dingy, dirty, and badly lighted.”
June 1, 1960
Dr. King Speaks at Gillfield Baptist Church
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at a meeting of the Petersburg Improvement Association at Gillfield Baptist Church and, during his visit, announces that Reverend Walker will go with him to Atlanta as Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Dorothy Cotton, who later served as the director of the SCLC’s Citizen Education Program, also leaves Petersburg to work with Dr. King in Atlanta.
July 6, 1960
Three Virginia State College students again seek service on the first floor of the public library, and the City Manager closes the library down indefinitely pending a court decision regarding the validity of Clara McKenney’s deed.
July 21, 1960
A Virginia judge dismisses charges against the remaining youths arrested on March 7th, 1960, for violating Petersburg’s anti-trespassing law, while protests continue at other public facilities.
July 30, 1960
Trailways Lunch Counter Sit-in
15 Black students are arrested for sitting in the white section of the Trailways Bus Terminal restaurant. The next day, 300 gather at the courthouse for their hearing. Additional arrests take place as students continue to sit at the Trailways Terminal lunch counters in subsequent days.
November 4, 1960
City Councilman William Grossman offers a resolution to reopen the Petersburg Public Library due to anxiety about losing the library if it remains closed indefinitely. The resolution is unanimously approved.
November 7, 1960
Petersburg Library reopens after four months, becoming the ninth Petersburg public facility to desegregate since the initial Kresge lunch counter demonstrations in February.