June 26 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for June 26.

Sit-in demonstrations and passive resistance began in Cairo, Illinois.

Despite Illinois’s relatively liberal reputation, Cairo, a small city far south from Chicago, was thoroughly segregated and violently racist.

Local youths formed the Cairo Nonviolent Freedom Committee (CNVFC) and invited Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to go to the small city to initiate protests.

Soon after, CNVFC launched “Operation Open City,” with an eleven-point plan to segregate all areas of civic life, including schools, housing, and employment opportunities.

But most of its energy focused on desegregating public accommodations, including several local restaurants, the public swimming pool, and a roller skating rink. Their efforts met fierce white resistance.

By August, the young activists had successfully integrated most of the city’s restaurants, though proprietors continued to harass Black patrons in other ways, like overcharging and providing poor service. 

Illinois Governor, Otto Kerner, Jr., ordered the city to desegregate in accordance with state law.

The violence signaled the end of segregated public accommodations in Cairo. Economic and political discrimination continued, however. 

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