INC NEWS - Royal Ice Cream Sit-In marker unveiling (Monday at 5PM)

[John Schelp]

Historical Marker for 1957 Durham Sit-in

Set To Be Unveiled at 5:00 PM on Monday, June 23
At Union Baptist Church in Durham  

The community-wide collaboration that led to the approval of a state-sponsored historic marker for the 1957 Royal Ice Parlor Sit-in will culminate on Monday, June 23 at 5:00 PM at the Union Baptist Church , which is located at 904 North Roxboro Street in Durham.   

The marker, which was approved by the State Historic Marker Advisory Committee last December, will be unveiled during a program in the sanctuary of Union Baptist, which now owns the property where the ice cream parlor was located.   

The marker will be permanently installed at the corner of North Roxboro and Dowd Streets as soon as construction is complete on a new school that the church is building. The unveiling of the marker will be led by Virginia Williams, who at the age of 20, was one of the young adults arrested for violating the existing laws of Southern segregation by moving from the “colored” section and sitting in the “white” section of the restaurant on Sunday afternoon, June 23, 1957.     

Ms. Williams will be assisted in the unveiling by R. Kelly Bryant, who has been involved in several historical projects in the Durham area.    

Bryant made two previous attempts at persuading the state panel to approve the marker before being successful in an appeal in December of 2007.   

Bryant’s final appeal to the state committee was reinforced by support from the Durham City Council, the Durham Board of County Commissioners, the Durham Board of Education, and numerous civic, community, and neighborhood groups. The date of June 23 was selected for the official unveiling of the marker because that is the anniversary of the 1957 action that involved Virginia Williams, Mary Clyburn, Claud Glenn, Jesse Gray, Melvin Willis, Vivian Jones, and the Rev. Douglas Moore.  Moore, a Boston University classmate and friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, was, at that time, the pastor of Asbury Temple United Methodist Church in Durham. As a consequence of their sit-in, the “Royal Seven” were arrested for trespassing and for violating segregation laws.   

They were defended by several famous black attorneys, including William Marsh, Sr., who continues to practice law in Durham.   

After being found guilty in local recorder’s court, the legal case was appealed through several proceedings before the original guilty conviction was upheld by the North Carolina Supreme Court. The legal proceedings distinguished the 1957 Royal Ice Cream Sit-in from the more famous sit-in that occurred when four students from North Carolina A&T ignited demonstrations for civil rights in February of 1960 by refusing to leave the lunch counter at Woolworth’s Department Store in Greensboro.    

The wording on the marker that will be unveiled on Monday, June 23 at Union Baptist Church will read: “Segregation protest at an ice cream parlor on this site, June 23, 1957, led to court case testing dual racial facilities.” 

The public is invited to attend the one-hour program and the unveiling of the historic marker.

For information and details please contact Eddie Davis at 919.810.5012

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