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Letter from Patricia and Priscilla Stephens to Marion Hamilton and Lottie Houston, March 20, 1960
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Hamilton, Marion M., 1901-1973
Houston, Lottie Mae Powell Stephens Hamilton Sears, 1920-2000
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here worse than you do for different reasons. Last Saturday, Fla. State University as well as A. and M. students were arrested. There was a total of thirty-five arrested last Saturday. We have five lawyers (very good ones Simon, Dixon, and Graves from Miami) and two are from other states (Helt is one). The students were badly mistreated. F.S.U. students were cursed and called 'white niggers' by the policemen. The policemen, led by the Mayor, used tear gas on eight-hundred of our students (we were in this group). Last Saturday's events started around nine o'clock when F.S.U. students milled in [Woolworths] and McCrory and ordered breakfast and (or) coffee, this was the plan; after the F.S.U. students are served, A. and M. students would move in and also ask to be served, naturally, they would be refused so the F.S.U. students gave their food to the Negroes. The students from the two universities sat and
talked for an hour and a half, after which, the mayor came in with his 'boys' and asked them to leave. The spoken [sic] man wanted to consult the others but before he had a chance, they were under arrest. During this time I (Pat) was observing in [Woolworth] and trying to help them organize because I could not sit in again. After they were arrested (12 of them-6 F.S.U. - 6- A+M) I rushed back to campus and got 200 hundred students to go downtown with me and stand in the park in front of the police station. When we got to the park, the students stood orderly and did not block the sidewalk. I then went to the police department and asked to see the students. I was refused. I decided to send some students to [Woolworth] to sit in again and also some to sit in at McCrory's. Fifty went to each place.
I accompanied the group that went to McCrory's. There are sixty-five seats at the lunch counter and most of them were taken, so our students filled the vacant seats (17 A.+M. students sat down). I was placing them, I did not sit down, they were also arrested. I rushed out to check on the [Woolworth] group. They had been stopped by a mob with sticks, guns, and knives, so I called them back. They wanted to go back to the campus and get others, they did. Eight hundred were marching downtown when the cops fired tear-gas on us. I could not anything because a cop threw a tear gas right at me saying "I want you" The eleven of us had been warned that we would be arrested on sight if we participated in the 'march'.
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Chicago Manual of Style
Due, Patricia Stephens, 1939-2012. Letter from Patricia and Priscilla Stephens to Marion Hamilton and Lottie Houston, March 20, 1960. 1960-03-20. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/329142>, accessed 25 December 2024.
MLA
Due, Patricia Stephens, 1939-2012. Letter from Patricia and Priscilla Stephens to Marion Hamilton and Lottie Houston, March 20, 1960. 1960-03-20. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 25 Dec. 2024.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/329142>