How a Natchez woman made history as one of the Tougaloo Nine

Top of the Morning column published in The Natchez Democrat (Sunday, March 15, 2026, page 4A) 

(Click on image to enlarge.)

 

Top of the Morning

 

How a Natchez woman made history 

as one of the Tougaloo Nine

 

By Roscoe Barnes III

 
Geraldine Edwards Hollis was a Tougaloo College student in the early 1960s when she and eight classmates walked into the whites-only Jackson Municipal Library, sat down with books, and made history.
 
The group became known as the Tougaloo Nine. Their peaceful sit-in, also called a read-in, lasted only 15 minutes, but it sparked the library's integration and youth protest movements across Mississippi.
 
At that time, Black residents were barred from the whites-only public library, even though it was supported by all taxpayers, including Blacks, Hollis told WLBT reporter Quinton Smith. “The goal was to make a difference in our society,” she said.
 
Born in Natchez, Hollis is a 1959 graduate of Sadie V. Thompson High School. She now lives in California and is the author of “Back To Mississippi: Sidewalks represent a journey to the paths of my success, follow my steps and take the journey!” (Xlibris US, 2011).
 
The Tougaloo Nine included, besides Hollis: Meredith Anding Jr., James “Sammy” Bradford, Alfred Cook, Janice Jackson, Joseph Jackson Jr., Albert Lassiter, Evelyn Pierce, and Ethel Sawyer. All nine were members of the NAACP Youth Council who were mentored by Medgar Evers, NAACP's field secretary in Mississippi.
 
The group’s historic protest occurred on March 27, 1961. Led by Jackson, they first visited George Washington Carver Municipal Library, which served only Black patrons, and requested a book they knew it did not have. They later visited Jackson Municipal Library, where Jackson walked up to a clerk and asked for a philosophy book. The clerk denied his request, saying “There’s a colored library on Mill Street. You’ll be welcome there.”
 
In response, all nine of the students sat down at different tables inside the library, pulled out books, and began reading. When asked to leave, they remained seated and continued reading. The library staff called police, who arrived and asked the students to leave. But they kept reading, at which time the police arrested them on charges of breach of the peace.
 
The students were tried the next day and found guilty of breach of the peace. Although each was fined $100 and sentenced to 30 days in jail, the judge suspended the sentences and ordered them not to engage in further demonstrations, an order they obeyed.
 
The news media dubbed the group the “Tougaloo Nine.”
 
The sit-in did not immediately change any laws or result in immediate integration. However, it set off protests in the Jackson community and inspired peaceful protests statewide. It led to a class-action lawsuit filed by the NAACP on behalf of the Tougaloo Nine and others in January 1962. In mid-1962, a federal court ruled segregation in public facilities unlawful, and soon after, the Jackson Public Library and the broader Jackson-Hinds library system were desegregated.
 
On August 17, 2017, the Tougaloo Nine were honored with a Mississippi Freedom Trail marker at 301 North State St., Jackson, in front of the former Old Jackson Municipal Library building which is now part of the Jackson Hinds Library System.
 
These brave students were also recognized by M.J. O’Brien on March 5 at the Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Historical Society in Meridian, Mississippi. O’Brien is the author of “The Tougaloo Nine: The Jackson Library Sit-In at the Crossroads of Civil War and Civil Rights” (University Press of Mississippi, 2025). His book won the 2026 Book of the Year Award presented by the Society.
 
I learned about Hollis’ activism from Bobby Dennis, director of the Natchez Museum of African American History and Culture. As I read about her, I came to see that her experience underscores the power of peaceful protests and the importance of equal access to public resources funded by all taxpayers.

--------------

ROSCOE BARNES III, Ph.D., is the cultural heritage tourism manager at Visit Natchez.