(You can watch a short video by Leon County Government that captures the importance of this history here. Watch the full program here.)

On Thursday, February 13th we’ll gather to observe an important community anniversary. Exactly 60 years ago on that day, inspired by the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins, a group of students conducted a sympathy sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in downtown Tallahassee. A week later their second sit-in led to the first jail-in in the nation. We’ll be telling the heroic story of these young FAMU students, led by Patricia and Priscilla Stephens and other members of the Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE). We’ll be joined by people who participated in these historic events for a first-hand understanding of what they faced as they advocated for equal rights under the law.

In the context of the story of these young people, we’ll look at our present relationships across race — how far we’ve come, and how far we still need to go. We’ll stretch to live into the long-promised vision of our founders that “all men are created equal” – right here in our hometown. (Dinner – because this will probably make us hungry – is on us.) This project is a partnership with Leon County Government. Learn more about the our award-winning series in partnership with Leon County, The Club of Honest Citizens.