Tag: Atlanta University Center

Morehouse College hosted the Sale Hall Annex Historical Marker Dedication Ceremony to honor the building as the site of the first student meeting to organize a movement demanding an end to segregation in Atlanta.

That pivotal meeting took place on Feb. 5, 1960, inside Sale Hall Annex, just four days after the Greensboro, North Carolina, sit-in.

Inspired by that act of courage, Morehouse students met to discuss how they, too, could challenge segregation in their city. Within weeks, hundreds of Atlanta University Center students joined what became known as the Atlanta Student Movement, led by men of Morehouse in partnership with student leaders from Spelman College, Clark College, Morris Brown College, Atlanta University, and the Interdenominational Theological Center.

Their coordinated activism transformed Atlanta’s civic landscape, helping to desegregate public buildings, lunch counters, restaurants, and theaters, and reverberated across the nation. The movement’s momentum also helped shift the Black vote nationally toward John F. Kennedy in the 1960 U.S. presidential election, influencing both local and national history.

Morehouse College faculty, students, alumni, and community leaders will gather to honor this legacy of student-led activism that reshaped Atlanta and inspired generations of changemakers. The dedication recognized Sale Hall Annex as a historic site of courage and conviction, where students transformed ideas into a movement that changed the course of civil rights in America.

Founder of the Atlanta Student Movement Trail and Councilman Michael Bond said former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen once said there were two things that caused Atlanta to rise to greatness, which was the advent of air conditioners that allowed businesses from the north to relocate to Atlanta and set up shop, with the other being the Atlanta Student Movement.

“The Atlanta Student Movement is the nickname Atlanta has that’s mostly been identified for the last 60 years,” he said. “In 2010, when I was chosen for this position, we put together a commission to honor the student movement to tell this story, and we erected 15 markers around the city categorizing the places.”

He also says there were almost 4,000 students at a time participating in the marches and they were no older than some of the students on campus today.

“These were 16–19-year-olds or younger, putting their bodies on the line for desegregation and freedom in America. The manifesto they adopted and the appeal on human rights was carried all over the world,” he said. “That manifesto became the model for other student organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and other student initiatives.”

Bond also says they want to be able to tell their authentic story for generations to come, and as his father said to him often, “this was the first successful slavery revoked since the end of the chattel slavery in 1865.

“This marker unveiling serves as an inspiration to the students here in the Atlanta University Center, but particularly those at Morehouse College, that the three students from Morehouse scholars were the catalyst that ignited this movement,” he said. “Someone else may try to erase our history, but it is up to us every day, every night to educate ourselves and our people about our history. The challenge is yours.”

Vice President for Student Services and Dean of the College Kevin Booker said during the ceremony they were standing on sacred ground made not by the soil beneath them, but by the courage of those who stood, sat, marched, and sacrificed over 65 years ago.

“We are rooted firmly and proudly because of those people who sacrificed and fought 65 years ago,” he said. “We honor the appeal for human rights and the manifesto that boldly called out the injustices of segregation and discrimination through the decades. They are words that still echo in our present struggles, reminding us that the fight for equality is not just for history. Atlanta changed because of America.”

He says the historical marker isn’t simply a symbol of what was, but of what must continue as a permanent testament to dedication and sacrifice.

Atlanta Student Movement veteran Rev. Amos Brown said we must remember what happened and remember those people who sacrificed and fought.

“We must remember what these people did to fight for a better future, but we cannot rest on that. We don’t realize it, but we’re at an extremely critical inflection point in our world in this country,” he said. “We got a crazy man in the White House who intends to put you back in slavery, and if you don’t believe it, just listen to what he’s saying and watch what he’s doing.”

He also says people need to go out and vote, and if you don’t vote, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Atlanta Student Movement veteran Dr. Georgianna Thomas said the movement can never be erased, only amplified.

“As we unveil this mark before Sale Hall, let’s remember the movement wasn’t only about marches and sit-ins, it’s about young minds in the classroom, our parents sent us here to go to school,” she said. “We can’t let it be erased.”

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