Guest host Gabriel San Roman interviews Joseph Jackson Jr., who formed part of the Tougaloo 9. The Tougaloo Nine were a group of African-American students at Tougaloo College, who participated in civil disobedience by staging sit-ins of segregated public institutions in Mississippi in 1961.
On March 27, 1961, these nine students visited Jackson's library for black residents, George Washington Carver, and requested books they knew were not there. They then entered the main Jackson Public Library for white residents, and staged a "read in. "
What followed suit was their criminalization. The day after the Read-In, hundreds of students from Jackson State Teachers College picketed the arrest of the Tougaloo Nine prior to their release. The demonstration, consisting of prayers, singing and chants of "We Want Freedom," lasted for around 40 minutes.The President of Jackson State College, Jacob Reddix, was alleged to have assaulted two demonstrators during the protest. Reddix also threatened to expel student demonstrators. Police utilized clubs and dogs against the students in order to disband the protest.
The next day, March 29, over one hundred black community members congregated outside of the courthouse to show support for the Nine. As protesters applauded the arrival of the Tougaloo Nine at the courthouse, policemen set on the crowd with dogs and nightsticks resulting in the beating of NAACP representative Medgar Evers along with several women and children, two men being bitten by dogs, and an 81-year-old man suffering a broken arm when police beat him with a nightstick.
Joseph Jackson Jr is Sojourner Truth's guest for the hour who will share what happened next and recount his lived experience.
Released on 08-30-2022
- KBOO