This Civil Rights icon penned a pivotal document while attending Spelman College...
Dr. Roslyn Pope
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Dr. Roslyn Pope made history in 1960 when, as a student at Spelman College, she wrote “An Appeal for Human Rights." The document published on March 9, 1960, announced the formation of the Atlanta Student Movement, whose campaign of civil disobedience broke a suffocating stalemate over civil rights in Atlanta and hastened the end of racist Jim Crow laws and policies across the region.
The “Appeal” quickly became a civil rights manifesto after it appeared as a full-page advertisement in Atlanta’s newspapers. It was denounced by Georgia’s segregationist Gov. Ernest Vandiver but celebrated around the country, reprinted for free in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times and entered into the Congressional Record. |
The idea was to explain why black students would defy their parents, professors and police by illegally occupying whites-only spaces. It decried the racist laws governing education, jobs, housing, voting, hospitals, theaters, restaurants, and law enforcement. It called on “all people of good will to assert themselves and abolish these injustices.”
“Every normal human being wants to walk the earth with dignity and abhors any and all proscriptions placed upon him because of race or color,” it said. “We do not intend to wait placidly for those rights which are already legally and morally ours to be meted out to us one at a time.”
“The time has come for the people of Atlanta and Georgia to take a good look at what is really happening in this country, and to stop believing those who tell us that everything is fine and equal, and that the Negro is happy and satisfied,” it said.
Source: WABE (full article link below)
“Every normal human being wants to walk the earth with dignity and abhors any and all proscriptions placed upon him because of race or color,” it said. “We do not intend to wait placidly for those rights which are already legally and morally ours to be meted out to us one at a time.”
“The time has come for the people of Atlanta and Georgia to take a good look at what is really happening in this country, and to stop believing those who tell us that everything is fine and equal, and that the Negro is happy and satisfied,” it said.
Source: WABE (full article link below)
In November 2010, the City of Atlanta recognized Dr. Pope and her fellow students for the impact they had on the Civil Rights movement when the a portion of Fair Street was re-named, "Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard," in their honor.
Atlanta Student Movement
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At the former site of Yates & Milton Drug Store (presently the Student Center on the campus of Clark Atlanta University), a Georgia Historical Society marker tells the story of the Atlanta Student Movement that began in 1960. The movement began when three Morehouse College students - Lonnie King, Joseph Pierce and Julian Bond - formed the Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights and involved all the historically black institutions of the Atlanta University Center (AUC).
After Roslyn Pope of Spelman College published "An Appeal for Human Rights," the AUC students conducted sit-ins at segregated lunch counters throughout Atlanta, movie theaters, parks and the Georgia State Capitol. When the students targeted the Magnolia Room at Rich's Department Store in downtown Atlanta, Martin Luther King, Jr. and his brother A.D. King joined them and were arrested with 77 student demonstrators. Protests involving more than 2,000 students at businesses continued until October 1961, when desegregation of the facilities was achieved. |
Atlanta Student Movement Historical Marker at Clark Atlanta University
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How & Where to Connect
The best way to connect with Dr. Pope is to visit the Atlanta Student Movement historical markers. Instructions for getting there are provided below. You can see what this location looks like in the Google 360-Street Map below...
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MARKER TEXT: At the former site of Yates & Milton Drug Store (presently the Student Center on the campus of Clark Atlanta University), a Georgia Historical Society marker tells the story of the Atlanta Student Movement that began in 1960.
The movement began when three Morehouse College students - Lonnie King, Joseph Pierce and Julian Bond - formed the Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights and involved all the historically black institutions of the Atlanta University Center (AUC). |
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After Roslyn Pope of Spelman College published "An Appeal for Human Rights," the AUC students conducted sit-ins at segregated lunch counters throughout Atlanta, movie theaters, parks and the Georgia State Capitol. When the students targeted the Magnolia Room at Rich's Department Store in downtown Atlanta, Martin Luther King, Jr. and his brother A.D. King joined them and were arrested with 77 student demonstrators. Protests involving more than 2,000 students at businesses continued until October 1961, when desegregation of the facilities was achieved.
Getting there...The Atlanta Student Movement historical markers are located on the campus of Clark Atlanta University. See Google Street Map above. This is about a 3/4-mile walk from the Ashby MARTA station.
Historical Markers 795 Atlanta Student Movement Blvd. (formerly Fair Street) Atlanta, GA 30314 Driving Directions |
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