On 60th anniversary, one of Friendship 9 will be on Black history panel. How to watch
Sixty years ago, the Friendship Nine helped change the world.
And one member, along with a South Carolina civil rights author, will talk about it Monday night.
On the first day of Black History Month, Friendship Nine member Thomas Gaither, who was convicted of trespassing 60 years ago to the day for participating in a historic sit-in at McCrory’s lunch counter, and author Claudia Smith Brinson, will discuss on Zoom the influence of African-American activists’ defiance of segregation laws in South Carolina.
The conversation, moderated by Winthrop University political science professor Adolphus Belk, Jr., will start at 6 p.m.
Gaither, the only member of the group who did not attend the now-closed Friendship College in Rock Hill, has gone on to work as a prominent activist and biology professor at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, according to a press release from the event organizers.
Brinson released her book “Stories of Struggle: The Clash over Civil Rights in South Carolina” in November, which includes “interviews with men and women who spearheaded the civil rights struggle” in the state, the release said.
The book features Rock Hill and York County. Brinson describes how students from Friendship College conducted the first lunch counter sit-ins in the state and devoted a chapter to Rev. Cecil A. Ivory, who mentored Friendship College freedom fighters, the release said.
The Zoom event is free and open to the public. Those interested in attending can register here.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 2:52 PM.
