Southern Railway Station Attack

In the first half of the 20th century, local "Jim Crow" laws enforced racial segregation in public transportation facilities throughout the South. Although the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia (1960) held that segregation in these facilities was illegal, African American Talladega College student Art Bacon encountered hostility when he arrived by train here. After sitting in the formerly "whites-only" waiting room, he was beaten by five white men as he left the station. Four days later, Talladega College students and faculty marched peacefully along Gurnee Avenue, at one point circling the police station, to protest the assault.

Anniston, Alabama · United States