Tampa's Path to Equality Part 7: Live on Stage

Tampa celebrates a breakthrough in civil rights when the city’s first wave of sit-ins took off on February 29, 1960.  High school students defied segregation at a Woolworth’s lunch counter and that inspired peaceful integration across the city. 

Tampa’s Path to Equality Part 6: The 'Tampa Technique'

In 1960, Tampa benefited from having the first southern governor to denounce segregation, the first mayor to help integrate the lunch counters and black and white community leaders who helped keep the peace.

Tampa's Path to Equality Part 5: The Breakthrough

Tampa celebrates a proud anniversary on February 29. On Leap Day of 1960, black high school students defied segregation at a Woolworth’s lunch counter, and it led to peaceful integration throughout Tampa as black and white community leaders came together.

Tampa’s Path to Equality Part 4: The Sit-ins

One of the most remarkable and least known chapters in Black history took place in Tampa 65 years ago. Black and white community leaders helped integrate lunch counters long before the rest of the American South in a striking shift in race relations.

Tampa's Path to Equality Part 1: The First Steps

Tampa is preparing to celebrate one of the greatest breakthroughs in civil rights history. At the dawn of the civil rights movement, before the fire hoses and police dogs of Birmingham, before the beatings of St. Augustine, and the violence of Bloody Sunday in Selma, one city, rose above the rest.