A very quick diary on the passing of an African-American Civil Rights era icon, as just reported in the state-wide newspaper The State:
Willie McCleod, a member of the Friendship Nine from Rock Hill who as a teen helped spark a national civil rights movement against segregation in South Carolina and America, has died.
McCleod died at home in Rock Hill late on New Year’s Eve, said Sabrina Gast, York County Coroner. He was 78.
McCleod was a vocal and life-long champion for Black equality. He was 18 in 1961 when he and eight others from Friendship Junior College in Rock Hill spent a month in the York County jail after they were convicted of trespassing after they sat at an all-white segregated lunch counter.
The sit-in at the lunch counter of McCrory’s in downtown Rock Hill, South Carolina is not as widely known as the Greensboro and other sit ins. But it was a very early and important protest that helped establish this tactic of the non-violence protest movement. And is a proud part of the upstate/midlands SC civil rights history.
Perhaps a Front Pager may want to follow up.
The full article is here, but likely behind a paywall (I am a subscriber to the newspaper). The State - Willie McCleod has died