Sammy Younge, Jr., an Alabama Navy veteran who became a SNCC organizer, was murdered at a Tuskegee, Ala., gas station for trying to use the station’s “white” toilet on January 3, 1966. The death prompted SNCC to finally take a public position against the war, despite the unwillingness of other civil rights groups to do […]
Author Archives: Neill Herring
Posted inGuest Column
Remembering Tom Coffin
Among the founders of “The Great Speckled Bird,” Atlanta’s weekly “underground” newspaper, Tom wrote a column entitled “What’s it all about, Ralphie?” in the paper’s first issue, March 8, 1968. Its title came from a contemporary movie starring Michael Caine as “Alfie,” a priapic chauffeur; striking a note that set the subsequent tone for The […]
