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Look Back: East St. Louis bank protests
Date: 8/13/2010 Album ID: 1057485
Photos by Post-Dispatch staff photographers
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"Lie-ins" at downtown East St. Louis financial institutions took place in August of 1963. On Aug. 15, more than 200 chanting protesters entered First National, lay down and sang, "We shall not be removed." Police commandeered a passing Bi-State bus to haul people to jail.
Some of the 200 people who marched outside the East St. Louis City Hall on July 11, 1963, to demand more jobs for blacks. The city's population held steady at 82,000 from 1950 to 1960, but a loss of about 12,000 whites was offset by a roughly equal gain in the number of black residents. In 1960, 44.5 percent of the city's population was black, double that of World War II. Blacks held lunch-counter sit-ins in November 1960 at Gill's Grill, 415 North 10th Street, but soon moved their attention to employment. Major factories in the city had closed, making work hard to come by for everybody. In 1960, black unemployment in East St. Louis was 30 percent, three times that of whites. During the march on City Hall, protest leaders met with Mayor Alvin G. Fields and warned of more events if the city and area employers didn't agree to hire more blacks. The big event would begin a month later. As the city's white flight accelerated during the 1960s, Fields would become the city's last white mayor. He was mayor from 1951 to 1971 (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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Moses McNeese of the East St. Louis youth branch of the NAACP, marches for jobs on Aug. 8, 1963, at Leslie Distributing Co., 1013 Baker Avenue. The unidentified driver is loading a truck with Pepsi-Cola. (Post-Dispatch)
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The bank protests begin on the morning of Aug. 12, 1963, when young demonstrators enter the lobby of First National Bank, 327 Collinsville Avenue. Leaders targeted a cluster of give financial downtown financial institutions, where only 10 percent of employees were blacks. The protesters, many of them young, stand inside the bank's ornate lobby, with its high ceiling and marble columns, and prepare to block the teller stations. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
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Protesters hold hands and block the teller stations inside First National Bank on Aug. 12, 1963. When police officers entered the lobby, the protesters lay down on the floor. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
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Police arresting some of the demonstrators inside the bank. At right is James Peake, field secretary for youth for the NAACP. Peake, 24, grew up on a farm near Lafayette, Ind., and lost use of his legs to polio. He was a student at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale when he got involved in civil-rights demonstrations in Cairo, Ill., in 1962. He became an NAACP official in July 1963, just as the East St. Louis protests were beginning. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
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Some of the protesters who were arrested inside First National Bank smile for photographers from inside a cell in the East St. Louis jail. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
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Leaders called off a second day of bank demonstrations for talks with bank executives, who offered to hire blacks in 20 part-time training positions. Protesters wanted 50 full-time jobs, but the executives refused. Protests resumed the third day, Aug. 14, 1963, with protesters lining up along the banks and kneeling in prayer. This scene is outside the former Union National Bank, just across Collinsville Avenue from First National. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch)
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Protesters kneel in the lobby of the State Savings & Loan Association, on the same corner as First National and Union National banks, on the morning of Aug. 15, 1963. About 200 protesters gathered that morning near City Hall, then broke up into groups that headed to five different financial institutions. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
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Another view of the group inside State Savings & Loan. Second from left on the floor is Taylor Jones, one of the demonstration leaders. (Lester Linck/Post-Dispatch)
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Another group begins in the lobby of First National Bank. Taylor Jones, a leader, kneels in the middle and talks to his fellow demonstrators. By plan, the protest in the lobby was about to get much bigger. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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After the smaller protests in each of the five institutions, all 200 protesters converged upon First National Bank, where they jam the lobby and sing, We shall not be moved. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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Police move in and begin making arrests at about 1:30 p.m. that day. Almost all of the protesters were arrested. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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Two officers carry a man over other protesters on their way outside the bank. Police had to commandeer a passing Bi-State bus to take protesters to jail. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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Arrests continue. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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More arrests. The East St. Louis Police Department was an integrated force, and longtime Mayor Alvin G. Fields had told protest leaders in July that more than 40 percent of the city payroll was black, although most were in lower-paying positions. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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Protesters sit calmly awaiting their turn to be carried outside. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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A detective keeps young protesters behind a steel gate inside City Hall. In the middle in his wheelchair is James Peake, an NAACP youth field representative and a protest leader. (Jack January/Post-Dispatch)
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Rex Carr, a prominent lawyer and spokesman for the downtown financial institutions, explains to reporters the terms of a deal with NAACP leaders as it is announced on Aug. 17, 1963, in City Hall. Standing at left is Omar Canty Jr., president of the local NAACP youth council. The protesters had wanted 50 full-time jobs. The bankers originally offered 20 part-time training positions. The deal called for seven full-time and 13 part-time clerical jobs for blacks. (Buel White/Post-Dispatch)
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The protests for jobs returns to East St. Louis City Hall on Sept. 13, 1963, when 75 demonstrators jam the lobby. Police officers assist residents who showed up to pay taxes or other fees. Protesters sing, We shall not be moved, and add a new verse: We can't pay our taxes. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch)
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Robert Rutledge, lawyer for K&R Supermarket, at 1525 Illinois Avenue, talks on Sept. 13, 1963, with NAACP leaders outside the store during a protest to win more supermarket jobs for blacks. In the wheelchair is James Peake, youth field secretary for the NAACP. Fellow leaders include Taylor Jones, crouching next to the wheelchair, and Omar Canty, president of the East St. Louis NAACP youth council, who has a towel around his neck. (Renyold Ferguson/Post-Dispatch)
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