Civil Rights Restaurant Trivia

Over the years I've had a few civil rights trivia questions to complement the courthouse trivia.  We had the Edmund Pettus Bridge a while back, for instance.  Maybe I could have counted the Carl Carmer house in Tuscaloosa as a civil rights trivia question because Stars Fell on Alabama was part of the (very moderate) civil rights movement.  Sometimes the places are so tough/obscure that I figure I'll just post them rather than use them as a trivia question.  (This house in Tuscaloosa, which was listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book, is one of them.  And I also posted a photo of the Queen Hotel in the Shake Rag District, from Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was also listed in the Negro Motorist book.)  Last week I taught Williams v. Howard Johnson's, a case decided by the Fourth Circuit in 1959, which denied liability for a Howard Johnson's restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, that refused to serve an African American man.  That's a case that I think helps us understand the push for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  I looked for that Arlington Howard Johnson's -- and for a while it was a Wendy's -- but I think it's been torn down now. 

Now I have a civil rights trivia question of a place where civil rights activists were  welcome.  The building at the right is a place where Civil Rights protesters met and planned their next moves.  It's also the site of the last meal of a martyr.  I don't think I'm making this laughably easy (though this one is not wildly difficult) by saying that after walking out of this restaurant that man was beat up and he subsequently died of those injuries.  Where is this building?

Comments

[Jason Mazzone]

I believe that is Walker's Cafe (later known as Strong's Restaurant) in Selma, AL. James Reeb was attacked nearby on March 9, 1965.

[Steve L.]

Selma; Rev. James Reeb; but I don't know the name of the café.

[Steve L.]

Oh, I see that Jason beat me to it, and with more information.

Viola Liuzzo, another Unitarian civil rights worker, was murdered near Selma two weeks later.

[Al Brophy]

For sure. You all are all over this. One thing that I thought I wanted to do was also take a picture of where Reverend Reeb was attacked. It was outside a cafe that seems t have been a hangout of the anti-civil rights crowd. Turns out that was on.y about half a block down Washington Street. That puts into context how Jim Crow functioned, it also puts into context the story that I've heard over the years that Reverend Reeb was lost or ventured into the wrong part of town.

Anyway, nicely done gentlemen.

And with this, I'll say I'm on my way back to Chapel Hill! Looking forward to coding and analyzing the wills I scooped up in Selma yesterday. I already know that there are some awesome stories in them, including one about a couple of men who were killed in a fight over a slave who was accused of arson.... And of course there's a cemetery monument to go along with this story.