Thomas Gaither, the organizing member of the “Friendship Nine,” passed away on Dec. 23 in Pennsylvania at age 86.
Gaither’s son, Kenn Gaither, confirmed the news with the Herald Online . Gaither was the only member of the “Friendship Nine” who didn’t attend Friendship Junior College but spent a month in the York County jail after they were convicted of trespassing at an all-white lunch counter in downtown Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Jan. 31, 1961.
The nonviolent sit-in took place after months of marches by civil rights protesters in downtown Rock Hill, located about 25 miles south of Charlotte. The 10 men were arrested, convicted the following day, and sentenced to either 30 days in jail or a $100 fine. Nine of them chose jail to demonstrate their opposition to segregation.
The “Jail, No Bail” movement, led by the Friendship Nine, captured national attention and reignited civil rights protests across the South, which had begun the previous year in Greensboro, North Carolina. Gaither traveled to Rock Hill as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), where he mentored the Friendship students and chose to join them in jail as an act of solidarity for equal rights.