1,500 Black college students challenged police, SCOTUS takes their side: Seven Days of 1961 podcast
On the "Seven Days of 1961" podcast, activists, many of whom were teenagers, share how they risked everything to challenge white supremacy.
On episode seven: In 1961, Black college students fought segregation. Four years later, their Supreme Court case secured First Amendment rights for future protesters.
Sylvia Copper was a freshman at Southern University when she was suspended for her participation in the historic protest. She knew the risks involved but was steadfast in her decision. Sylvia met with producers on the VERY street where the protest took place.
The “Seven Days of 1961” podcast features stories of resistance, told by the people who lived it. Learn more about the heroic civil rights activists and the danger they faced at 7daysof1961.usatoday.com.
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Sylvia Copper:
When the tear gas and everything was dispersed, you were in a flight or fight mode, but we weren't fighters. So we were in a flight mode. It was how you were going to get from down here and get out of the way the dogs and the policemen, basically. And then along the way, we had to stop and help other persons out.
Nathalie Boyd:
On December 15th, 1961, 10 days before Christmas, over 1,500 black college students marched to downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they peaceful protested the arrests of 23 Southern University students. The college students stood across the street from the courthouse when police doused the protestors with tear gas, sic dogs on them and arrested many of the students. The brutal treatment of the marchers led to a supreme court case that secured the protection of protestors as a First Amendment Right. I'm Natalie Boyd, a podcast producer with USA today. Sylvia Copper was a freshman at Southern University when she was suspended for her participation in the historic protest. She knew the risks involved, but was steadfast in her decision. Sylvia met with producers on the very street where the protest took place. There is some background noise from a fountain nearby as Sylvia reflected on the events of that day. This is The Seven Days of 1961 Podcast, hear history from the people who made it.
Sylvia Copper:
I personally wanted to get involved in the demonstrations because all my life we had to go to the back of the bus. When I was in elementary school, we had a priest called Father Brown, and we would play ball in the streets at the school. But there was a playground right across the street from the school that we couldn't go at. So Father Brown told us one day that we shouldn't be playing in the street we should be playing in the park. So we raised the fence up and some of the kids went under the fence to start playing in the park. So what happened was some people let the police know that we were there. And that was my first experience with dealing with demonstrating.
Nathalie Boyd:
Sylvia began protesting as a very young child. She never accepted the way things were. And she became involved in the civil rights movement as a college student, where she joined The Congress of Racial Equality.
Sylvia Copper:
I was at Southern University in 1961. And that was the time that I got involved with the movement on-campus. I may have been something like 18 or 19 or something like that. You would have the meetings at church and Reverend Cox and other members of COR, they would brief us on the purpose of the organization, how it would affect everybody in general. They said that it would make our lives better. We would be having access to better education. And just to be able to do things that we hadn't been able to do up until that time. So this was a good reason for me to do it so I can have more exposure and to be able to deal with some of the better things in life that we weren't capable of dealing with before the civil rights act.
Nathalie Boyd:
The activist in Baton Rouge set a two part plan into motion. Phase one, perform sit-ins at white lunch counters and picket stores that refuse to desegregate. They knew they would have to be arrested and jailed over the Christmas holidays.
Sylvia Copper:
It was planned that the students would go and sit in and press at the lunch counters and picket. So when the students went into press, it was Attention store, Five and Dime Store. They set at the lunch counters and they were picketing outside. They knew they were going to be arrested
Nathalie Boyd:
On December 14th, 1961, 23 students from Southern University were arrested while peacefully protesting discriminatory businesses. They were processed and held in jail on the fourth floor of the Baton Rouge courthouse.
Nathalie Boyd:
Ronnie Moore chair of CORE and Baton Rouge quickly prepared students for the second phase of their plan. On December 15th, they would March on behalf of the 23 arrested picketers.
Sylvia Copper:
The reason for coming down to the courthouse basically, was to give the students who were on top of this building, that was the jail to give them support and let them know that they weren't in the fight alone, that we were here to help them out.
Sylvia Copper:
It was a cold rainy day. The rain had stopped, but it was still cold. I remember that I had a beige overcoat on, kind a [inaudible 00:05:45] overcoat because it was cold and damp. The day started just like a regular day. And we knew where we were going. We knew that we were going downtown. We would have to meet at the railroad tracks and we would get out our marching orders, our instructions from the leaders like Ronnie Moore, some of the other students and we would start our pilgrimage downtown Baton Rouge to come and give support to the persons who were arrested and housed in the jail here.
Nathalie Boyd:
The students began the seven mile March from Southern University to the courthouse.
Sylvia Copper:
I don't remember a whole lot of talking going on. Everybody was quiet and orderly. And some of the white people that may have passed purposely passed on the side where a water was splash on you. But other than that, I wasn't afraid. I had been going to the trainings. They taught us how to protect ourselves. If we were attacked by disgruntled person's call from the police department, nobody was disruptive. They knew what they were coming to do and what were doing it for. And I think everybody basically was ready.
Sylvia Copper:
And when they saw us coming, they started yelling and was happy to see us. And we started conversing talking back and forth them.
Nathalie Boyd:
The protestors line the sidewalk across the street from the courthouse and eagerly greeted their comrades through the jail's windows, and across the street over 300 police officers stood on the sidewalk outside the courthouse holding tear gas, revolvers and sub-machine guns.
Sylvia Copper:
And one office in particular, I could remember him. He was just talking and gyrating and he had this canister, tear gas canister in his hand. And he was just talking, I don't know if he was demonstrating something or whatever, but it got away from him and it fell on the street. So when it hit the concrete, it dispersed. So when his dispersed and it fell on the concrete, all the other officers who were lined up, they started throwing their canister. And this is how everybody [inaudible 00:08:24] was inundated with tear gas, that was strong at us
Sylvia Copper:
When the tear gas and everything was dispersed, you were in a flight or fight mode. But we weren't fighters, so we were in a flight mode. Everybody was surprised cause everybody just turned around, all the houses were there. They ran through the alleys and just mowed fences down. I mean, when the people came home, I know they were surprised cause they didn't see any fences. The fences were just laying flat on the ground, because the kids just turned around and knocked the fences down. So everything on this side of the street was residential and that's where the students were. So we used the hose pipes and the hydrants that were on the side of people's houses to try to wash the tear gas out of their eyes that keep them burning. And because they were having problems seeing and they were real painful. That the policeman had dogs with them in this area. So when all of pandemonium happened and the students started running, this is when the dogs were released.
Nathalie Boyd:
The police chased, the students, beat them with night sticks and placed them under arrest. The actions of the Baton Rouge police department spurred a case that went to the United States supreme court, four years later. The court determined that protestors could not be punished for peaceful demonstrations, guaranteeing first amendment rights for future generations.
Sylvia Copper:
It was how you were going to get from down here and get out of the way of dogs and the policemen basically. And then along the way we had to stop and help other persons out who had problems with the tear gas or if somebody fell down, just to do things, to help everybody along and just to find our way back at campus and the coat that I had on when I got back to the dormitory, when we were dropped off. I don't even know how I got back to. I think I got back to campus on a bus, but the coat that I had on was so full of tear gas, that it hung in the bathroom, and the dormitory for two weeks before the smell was gone. That's how strong it was.
Sylvia Copper:
It was really an experience. And when I got back to the dormitory, all I could do was take a shower and get in the bed and just reflect on what had happened. Everybody just went about their way. I don't even remember people moving around too much on campus after that. I think they were just trying to digest what had just happened. But administration had to deal with the powers that be.
Nathalie Boyd:
The all white board of education ordered nine students be expelled from Southern University due to their participation in the December 15th protest.
Sylvia Copper:
And because we were in the movement, we were expelled from school. They said we were aiding in a betting in the movement and causing disruption on campus. So I think I stayed out for a semester, not longer than a year and I was able to return, but some of the students who participated were not able to return to school. They wanted to make sure that the president would control the students who are on campus and make sure that they wouldn't have another uprising or they would lose their jobs or whatever. That's what basically happens when you do some something that people don't like, who are in control.
Sylvia Copper:
And for whatever the reason, for some of the things that happened, we also understand that, that was their job and certain things that they have to do to maintain their jobs and keep their jobs. So nobody felt any animosity or anything to any administrators or whatever it is on campus. Cause in fact, we had a dean call U.S. Jones. He would come down and bring money for the kids to put on their book. The kids that were jailed from the demonstration. He would come down and leave things [inaudible 00:13:24] so that they can know that people are still with them and still backing them.
Nathalie Boyd:
Sylvia went back to Southern University and graduated with a degree in nutrition. She is now a legislative researcher for the state of Louisiana, but she feels that the country has only gotten slightly better and that there is still a need for protests.
Sylvia Copper:
I think we need more of it today because after a while when you reach upon that you reached a goal, but really the demonstrations just started something that wasn't completed, as far as I'm concerned, because we are still having problems, people are still in denial. They don't think they're prejudice. I think we are right. They think black people are all right.
Sylvia Copper:
So I really wish that they would still have had more of it and to be able to overcome some of the disparities that we still had it. But it presents itself in a different manner or a different kind of way. And like with black lives matter, I think we still need it but I think it's done differently from when we did it. But I think it should be a continuous thing really because after something happens and everybody go home, it's just business as usual. And we still in the same rut that we've been in all along with education, a job, just across the board, the same things are basically there, except that we don't have to ride at the back of the bus. We can go to some places to eat, but I think that's as far as we've come, we still have a lot to work on. We still have a lot to work on
Nathalie Boyd:
The Seven Days of 1961 Podcast is produced and edited by me, Natalie Boyd. Bailey Loosemore reported on this episode and Jasper Colt produced the interview. You can see images of Sylvia and you can read Bailey's story to learn more about this protest at sevendaysof1961.usatoday.com. Thank you for listening. Tell your friends about the podcast. We want more people to hear these personal stories about acts of resistance that helped in segregation. Please write us a review on apple podcast, it helps more people find the show. This is our final episode. We really appreciate you joining us to hear these civil rights veterans tell their stories and their own words. We'd love to hear from you, tweet us at USA today, or email us at podcasts@usatoday.com