The Tougaloo Nine: The Jackson Library Sit-In at the Crossroads of Civil War and Civil Rights

WINNER OF THE MISSISSIPPI HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S 2026 BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

During a dramatic three-day period in March 1961, nine students from historically Black Tougaloo College staged sit-ins at the all-White Main Library in Jackson, Mississippi. The students conducted their protest and were arrested, held in jail overnight, and convicted of "breach of peace"--the first time that charge had ever been brought in a Mississippi courtroom. Meanwhile, students at Jackson State College held sy...