Alexandria Library sit-in
1939 CE.
Shown on the map at 38.808°, -77.047°.
The Alexandria Library sit-in was one of the first staged sit-in actions in the United States, pioneering the use of nonviolent direct action to demand equal rights for African Americans. On August 21, 1939, five Black men sat down inside the Alexandria Public Library and quietly read books, a transgression of the library's "whites only" policy. Their actions were coordinated by Alexandria attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker, who planned the action to create a test case challenging the library's racial segregation policy. The men were escorted out of the library by police and charged with disorderly conduct. At a bench trial, a judge declined to make a ruling in the case. In October 2019, all charges against the men were formally dismissed. The Alexandria sit-in is one of the earliest precursors in the U.S. of the strategies used during the civil rights movement.
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