Honoring the Friendship Nine

The Rock Hill (South Carolina) Herald has the story of Rock Hill's long overdue decision to erect a memorial to the friendship Nine, a group of students at what was then Friendship Junior College who began the sit-in movement in Rock Hill, which is about 25 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina and is increasingly taking on the shape of a suburb, or at least an exurb, of the Queen City.

One of the most significant aspects of the movement in Rock Hill is that it introduced, or at least marked the beginning of the establishment of a policy of "jail no bail" in which civil rights activists who found themselves under arrest would refuse bail in hopes of filling up the jails and stretching the system to its breaking point. The friendship Nine (who grew to number far, far more) feature prominently in one of the chapters of my freedom Ride manuscipt and in an article I had published last year. I am pleased to see them finally getting some public recognnition for their work.