Marker would recognize bold stand against racism in Shelby

SHELBY — A marker, if approved, by the state would be placed in Shelby on Warren Street in front of what once was Smith’s Drug Store. It is an art gallery now.

Wednesday marked the 61st anniversary of a bold stand against racism by high school protesters.

Black people were able to go inside and order, but they couldn’t sit at the counter and eat.

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Lucretia Mitchell Bell and her classmates decided that enough was enough.

“I can see us, you know?” Bell said.

Bell said she vividly recalls that day from six decades ago and the feeling of hurt from the constant racial slurs and threats, because she is Black.

“It makes you want to stand up for what you know is right,” Bell said.

She was 17 years old, and her classmates were high school students and marched to downtown Shelby where Black people were often shunned.

“When the time came to go, nobody faltered,” Bell said.

They sat at the counter, and as more customers left in outrage. More Black students sat down, which she said angered the shop owner who got physical.

“Shaking the stools that we were on,” Bell said.

“And we still would not move,” she said.

They withstood all of that and finally left when the owner filled the store with a toxic bug spray.

“It just makes you angry to know that you are an individual, a human being, and someone hated you or what you stood for so much, that this is what they would do to keep you out,” Bell said.

She said it took another five years before stores in Shelby were fully integrated.

Bell is now thrilled that the city has petitioned the state to commemorate that day with a historical marker.

The marker would stand next door to Lilly Bean Coffee with the same décor and nostalgic music from the 1960s, where people of all races are served at the same counter and sit together.

Amber Greene, a barista at Lilly Bean Coffee, said she welcomes the marker.

“I think it’s important that we start displaying positive aspects of history that have changed us for the better,” Greene said.

The city is hoping to hear back from the state soon.

The operators of the Earl Scruggs Center want to document that day through the voices of the protesters to add to their display.