Placards at the State House

A group of 187 Black high school and college students walked in small groups onto the grounds of a Southern state house to protest racial discrimination, carrying placards with slogans such as 'Down with segregation.' Between 200 and 300 onlookers gathered, and more than thirty law enforcement officers were present. Officers told the students they would be arrested if they did not disperse within fifteen minutes. Instead of leaving, the students listened to what officials called a 'religious harangue' from one of their leaders and sang patriotic and religious songs, conduct the authorities described as boisterous. They were arrested and charged with the common-law offence of breach of the peace. The students said they had assembled peacefully to protest and to petition their government, and that punishing them violated their constitutional rights.