RICHMOND, Va. — Drive or walk by the southeast corner of 6th and Broad in Richmond. Nothing out of the ordinary grabs your attention—just another asphalt parking lot downtown.
But look closely; a pair of markers prove you simply can’t pave over the past. The signs pay homage to one of Central Virginia’s most important moments.
“The world needs to know who these people were,” Richmond native Linnard “LK” Harris said. “Richmond has so much history, and this is a great story to be told.”
It was at the corner of Sixth and Broad Streets that, on February 22, 1960, dozens of African American students from Virginia Union University descended upon Thalhimers Department Store.
They were there not to shop but to sit.
“They peacefully protested without actually saying anything to anyone,” Harris said. “It is history. It is true life history.”
On that Monday, the VUU alum said 34 students filled the stools inside the cafeteria, requesting service. The students were ignored.
“The most they said was, ‘I would like to order. I would like to order. I would like to order.’ They were denied anything,” Harris said.
The cafeteria wasn’t closed, but it was segregated.
“They sat there. They took their books out. They studied. That’s what they did,” Harris said.
When they refused to leave, the students were arrested for trespassing and taken to jail.
“They were trained on how to peacefully protest, and they were trained by Dr. Martin Luther King himself,” Harris said.
This defining act of civil disobedience rippled across the city and beyond.
“They ignited a movement—a peaceful movement,” Harris said.
The group was labeled the Richmond 34. But as the years wore on, the students' actions that momentous day faded from memory.
“You will find very few people who know about it,” Harris said.
LK admits he never heard about the protest while growing up in the city during the '60s and '70s.
“No. I did not. I can honestly say I did not,” Harris said.
LK said the Richmond 34 deserve their lasting place in the annals of history.
“The more I learned, the more enthusiastic I got. The more I wanted to dig,” Harris said.
The television producer is embarking on a feature film about the sit-in more than six decades ago.
“It ignited a flame inside of me to tell the story,” Harris said.
Retired Richmond police officer Clarence Key finds motivation in the group’s actions even to this day. The 1989 VUU graduate will appear in the film titled Richmond 34: The Silent Victory.
“They knew what they had to do, and they held their line,” Key said. “They did something that was tremendous, tremendous during that time. And it was an act of courage and resiliency.”
Shakia Gullette Warren, executive director of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, believes the students’ actions that day were as impactful as any chapter in the civil rights movement.
“The message their activism sent was, by any means necessary, that we will not give up the fight,” Gullette Warren said. “They were not going to take no for an answer. They were willing to put their lives on the line to fight and to stand up for what they believed in.”
At the museum, a replica of a 1960s restaurant serves as a living tribute to the Richmond 34.
“Their legacy definitely inspired many movements here in Richmond and throughout Virginia,” Gullette Warren said.
Executive producer of the film, Linnard “LK” Harris, is researching, writing, and raising funds for the project—a movie he says is his life’s calling.
Watch: The Voices of The Richmond 34 (2020)
“Only my God in heaven truly knows the passion I have for it,” Harris said. “For this part of the journey, I’m going to take it. I’m gonna do the best I can with it, and at the end of the day, I will say cut knowing there’s more work to be done. And I’m looking forward to doing that.”
Sixty-five years ago this month, a group of students stood up for their rights by sitting down. Their quiet protest on this spot still echoes across the decades, loud and clear.
“They put their lives on the line for a greater cause,” Gullette Warren said. “They answered a calling that a lot of people don’t want to answer. And they did.”
“They are just sitting there. How do you fight that? You really can’t,” Harris said. “We are going to make sure that the world knows who the Richmond 34 were.”
Richmond 34: The Silent Victory is expected to be released at the end of next year.
A black-tie fundraiser for the film’s production will take place at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia on Leigh Street in Richmond from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 23.
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