Sit-in Demonstration Site

Stewart's Dry Goods, Louisville's largest and most prestigious department store, stood at this site and in the 1950s was a special-occasion destination, with ladies expected to wear hats and gloves for shopping or lunch in the Orchid Tea Room, but African Americans were barred by policies that denied them the right to try on clothes, use the washrooms, or eat in the restaurants. On February 9, 1961, young people from CORE and the NAACP Youth Council selected Stewart's as their first target for demonstrations, and their arrest during the first sit-in set off a mass campaign that spread across downtown, led to the "Nothing New for Easter" boycott, and continued through the spring. Large numbers of protesters were arrested and faced violence from store employees, and by April 27, 1961, Louisville had jailed 685 demonstrators during protests, more than any other place in the nation had up to that time. Stewart's, called by civil rights leaders the "bulwark of segregation" in Louisville, did not serve black customers in its restaurants until the Public Accommodations Ordinance was passed in 1963. The store was purchased by L.S. Ayers in 1985 and later closed.

Louisville, Kentucky · United States