02/15/2025
A Knoxville College student was arrested for trying to buy a ticket at a downtown theater. The arresting officer is Jimmy Rowan. Avon Rollins is pictured on the left. From the Beck Archives.
Students at Knoxville College played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
A number of brave young students, led by student body president Robert J. Booker, initiated the local "sit-in" movement. Knoxville College students also participated in "stand-in" protests at the Tennessee and Bijou Theatres.
These protests were done in efforts to put an end to the segregation of Knoxville's lunch counters and movie theaters. Sit-in and demonstrations would go on until the summer of 1963 when segregation in the city's downtown area came to an end.
