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Kress Building. Downtown Baton Rouge State Level Significance Ethnic Heritage First Louisiana Sit-Ins of Modern Civil Rights Movement -- 1960. Kress Building, East Baton Rouge Parish. Third Street Facade. Party wall, masonry construction Remodeled 1930s in Moderne style
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Kress Building • Downtown Baton Rouge • State Level Significance • Ethnic Heritage • First Louisiana Sit-Ins of Modern Civil Rights Movement -- 1960
Third Street Facade Party wall, masonry construction Remodeled 1930s in Moderne style “L” shaped footprint Reads as two stories Windows replaced; some openings boarded over
Main Street Facade Partly encircles Levy Building L-Shaped plan reflects growth & enlargement Reads as four stories Architectural features more restrained Windows also replaced
The Sit-In Movement Greensboro, North Carolina, February 1, 1960
Non-Violent Direct Action vs. Lengthy Court Cases
By end of February sit-ins in 15 cities in five states: North and South Carolina Tennessee Florida Virginia 100 cities by November 1960
Baton Rouge Sit-Ins March 28, 1960 Kress Department store Sitman’s Drug Store (lost) Greyhound Bus Station (lost)
Seven Southern students peacefully challenge segregated lunch counter
Southern President Felton G. Clark Opposed sit-ins as threat to university. . . Expelled protesters
Withdraw or stay in school? Southern students fill out withdrawal slips
Importance of Sit-Ins Scholars recognize as distinct and significant phase of Civil Rights Movement No more second class citizenship Inspired others to act via non-violent direct action Accelerated pace of social change New and younger class of black leaders Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Led to court cases that helped overturn segregation
Garner vs. Louisiana December 1961Thurgood Marshall & A. P. Tureaud U.S. Supreme Court . . . • overturned convictions of students for disturbing the peace • affirmed the principle that a licensed public business could not discriminate or operate in a segregated fashion.
Exceptional Significance • Only four years shy of 50 year threshold • Civil Rights Movement is “period of time which can be logically examined together.”— Bulletin 22 • Sit-In Movement and Baton Rouge Sit-Ins are subjects of scholarly study. Movement called “watershed in the history of black protest” in U.S.
Kress Building of Exceptional Significance to Louisiana and eligible for National Register