ROCK HILL, S.C. — We’re remembering one of the brave young Black men who became known as the Friendship 9 in Rock Hill.
Thomas Gaither passed away Monday in Pennsylvania.
In 1961, he and eight others protested racial segregation in Rock Hill when they staged a sit-in at an all-white lunch counter. They were arrested and made history when they took the stance of “jail, no bail.”
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Decades later, the men had their records cleared and their names placed on seats at the same lunch counter where they were refused service.
Gaither was 86 years old.
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