“From 1960 to 2023: Activism and Progress in Nashville”

On April 19, 1960, the procession set off in North Nashville, in the neighborhood of Z. Alexander Looby, a black lawyer and city councilor whose house had been targeted the day before by a homemade bomb. The silent march initially counted 1,500 demonstrators. When they arrived at their destination – the local court – they were around 3,000.

That day marked a turning point for the sit-ins organized at the time in Nashville. Since February 1960, students had been campaigning against segregation in the city’s restaurants. The explosives thrown at the house of Alexander Looby convinced the public opinion that the opponents of desegregation were now more radical than the demonstrators. When he came to meet the protesters in court, the Nashville mayor relented.

“No justice, no peace”

On April 10, 2023, more than sixty years later, another motorcade passed through Nashville on foot. The small protest started on the City Hall plaza and, by the time it reached the Tennessee Legislature, the crowd had swelled to several thousand people. This time the protesters were louder. They had signs and chanted the slogan “No justice, no peace”.

Upon arrival on the steps of the Legislative Assembly, they too claimed a victory: Justin Jones, one of the two Democratic congressmen from Tennessee who had been expelled on April 6 for protesting in the precincts of the Assembly, was reinstated in his post. The second expelled Democratic congressman, Justin Pearson, also regained his seat the next day.

In many ways, the current atmosphere in Nashville is reminiscent of the 1960s: a younger generation is challenging the power in place and fighting for more justice. The two movements, however, have a different form, background and social context.

Nashville activists in the 1960s followed strict rules – be clean, don’t laugh, don’t fight back. Today, some are more daring. After his reinstatement, Justin Jones grabbed a microphone and called for the resignation of Republican Assembly Speaker Cameron Sexton.

In the 1960s, desegregation was the long-term goal of struggle. The strategic goals of Nashville’s newly elected activists are not so clear. Their protests have c