Mack Workman, one of Rock Hill’s Friendship 9, dies

ROCK HILL, S.C. — One of the men at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Rock Hill has died.

Mack Workman was part of the group that became known as the Friendship 9.

In 1961, Workman and eight other students were convicted of trespassing after sitting at a “whites only” lunch counter at McCrory’s Five and Dime. They chose to spend a month in jail rather than pay a fine.

It led to a movement called “Jail, No Bail” in protest of segregation.

Workman spoke to Channel 9 in 2015 after a judge overturned their convictions.

“This moment makes me feel real proud that it wasn’t in vain,” he said then.

The Rock Hill Herald reports that Workman moved to New York as an adult in the late 1960s. That’s where his funeral services are being held.

Workman was 81 years old.

Click here to learn more about the Friendship 9 and how they changed history.

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