KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ( WATE ) — Tuesday marked 60 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law, and several Knoxvillians played a part in the movement.
Rev. Harold Middlebrook was one of many Knoxville figures at the forefront of sit-ins and protests to push the civil rights movement forward. He was a friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The two were arrested together in Atlanta in 1960 after a sit-in at a restaurant.
To Middlebrook, the passing of the act was only the first step toward equality.
“Desegregation is a move to change things by law, integration is the changing of hearts and minds, so that people start accepting it. So we were blessed and grateful, that at least we now had the law on our side,” he said.
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While Middlebrook moved to Knoxville in the seventies, Joseph Kendrick was involved in the desegregation efforts in the city before the act was passed.
“We were trying to integrate the Tennessee Theatre, and I happened to be the first one in line. So when I went up to buy the ticket, I think because I was fair-skinned, the lady accidentally sold me a ticket,” Kendrick said.