The Tougaloo Nine: UNCF-Member HBCU Tougaloo College Led Historic Read-In at MS All-White Public Library

by Marlena Chertock |

From left: Joseph Jackson, Jr., Geraldine Edwards, James Bradford, Evelyn Pierce, Albert Lassiter, Ethel Sawyer, Meredith Anding, Jr., Janice Jackson and Alfred Cook. Photo courtesy of Tougaloo College Archives.
From left: Joseph Jackson, Jr., Geraldine Edwards, James Bradford, Evelyn Pierce, Albert Lassiter, Ethel Sawyer, Meredith Anding, Jr., Janice Jackson and Alfred Cook. Photo courtesy of Tougaloo College Archives.

While you’ve probably heard of the nonviolent protest sit-ins where Black students challenged racial segregation at Woolworth lunch counters across the American South, most famously in Greensboro, NC and Jackson, MS, a lesser-known sit-in by what became known as the Tougaloo Nine occurred at the all-white Main Jackson Public Library in Jackson, MS.

On March 27, 1961, nine students from historically Black college and university (HBCU) Tougaloo College, a UNCF-member institution, held an historic read-in at Jackson’s all-white library. After first requesting school books at Carver Library, the library designated for Black residents, which lacked resources, the students—Alfred Cook, Geraldine Edwards, Janice Jackson, Joseph L. Jackson, Albert Lassiter, James C. Levert, Arthur D. Mosley, Evelyn Pierce and Ethel Sawyer—then went to the main public library, found the books and sat down to read them in peaceful protest.

Learn more about Tougaloo College

The Tougaloo Nine: The Jackson Library Sit-In at the Crossroads of Civil War and Civil Rights, written by renowned civil rights book author Michael J. (M.J.) O’Brien, was published by the University Press of Mississippi. The book received the Mississippi Historical Society’s 2026 Book of the Year Award.

The students conducted a peaceful sit-in over three days, while the city held a centenary Confederate celebration. Police arrested the students and charged them with a breach of peace, inspiring city-wide protests, marches and a massive prayer meeting outside the library. While the students were convicted, their cases were thrown out on appeal.

The story of the Tougaloo Nine is still being told today. Last year, The Tougaloo Nine: The Jackson Library Sit-In at the Crossroads of Civil War and Civil Rights, written by renowned civil rights book author Michael J. (M.J.) O’Brien, was published by the University Press of Mississippi. The book received the Mississippi Historical Society’s 2026 Book of the Year Award. O’Brien also wrote We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-In and the Movement It Inspired, published in 2014.

O’Brien discussed his recent book and the lasting impact of the Tougaloo Nine at Fall for the Book, a book festival based at George Mason University. Watch the discussion below.

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