A new exhibit at City Hall was unveiled Monday honoring the “freshman four” civil rights pioneers from Lane College – Shirlene Mercer, Kimmie Davis, Ernest Brooks Sr., and Wesley McClure – who staged a sit-in at the F.W. Woolworth Department Store, at the corner of Main Street and North Liberty Street – in October 1960.

The new exhibit – counter and stools – were donated by the late Clark Shaw of The Old Country Store – and located on the first floor of City Hall, in front of the George A. Smith Meeting Room where Woolworth’s once stood.

“It’s truly an honor and a privilege to be here … to recognize the ‘freshmen four’ of the Civil Rights Movement here in Jackson, Tennessee,” said Ernest Brooks II, “They were the first to organize a sit-in at the Woolworth’s (luncheon) counter in order to desegregate Woolworth’s – and it sparked part of the movement that went across the south.”

Ernest Brooks II is the son of the late Ernest Brooks, Sr., and a member of the Jackson City Council.
“I don’t remember what I was doing when I was 18,” Brooks said, “But surely it was not changing the hearts and minds of a nation.”

The activists endured threats, harassment and had objects thrown at them when they chose to sit at the “whites only” lunch counter within the store.

This protest sparked a movement throughout the city as demonstrations moved on to other businesses downtown in an effort to fight Jim Crow laws and end segregation.

The brave actions by this group are viewed as part of Jackson’s history and American history.

The “freshman four” were instrumental in changing the laws in Jackson and subsequently had a lasting impact on generations of African Americans in Jackson.

An additional Woolworth’s exhibit – installed in February 2020 – is located at The Old Country Store in Casey Jones Village.

(PHOTO: Shirlene Mercer, the only remaining member of the ‘Freshmen Four,’ is pictured with Ernest Brooks II)