Feeding the Revolution in Atlanta
Catfish, Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Founded in 1960, The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) used the strategy of direct action to advance the desegregation agenda of the collective civil rights movement. SNCC gained international attention when in February of 1960 members launched a sit-in demonstration at a lunch-counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the time Julian Bond attended Morehouse College (the House) in Atlanta and first heard about while sitting in a café (possibly Paschal’s) “a place where students went between--or instead of—classes,” says Bond. He and other Morehouse students organized a local SNCC chapter and launched their own lunch-counter sit-ins in Atlanta. Many of the strategy successions for their sit-ins occurred at Paschal’s just around the corner from the House because the Paschal brothers provided both food and space for Bond, Lonnie King (another Morehouse man) and others Atlanta University Center students who responded SNCC's example of direct action. Those familiar with Paschal’s remember fondly the fried catfish, mashed potatoes, sweet tea, and lemon pie on the menu. More on SNCC in Atlanta and Paschal’s tomorrow.
