Black leaders such as C. B. Robinson, an educator and legislator, and prominent white businessman William Brock, Sr., father of later Senator William Brock, Jr. Olgiati’s successor as mayor, Ralph Kelley, came to office in Chattanooga.
Martin Luther King Jr. made a speech in Chattanooga. He made his speech at the Memorial Auditorium and addressed hundreds of people. He encouraged non-violence to get civil rights. His speech was made to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (executive order that freed slaves in certain states).
Four black students admitted to graduate programs at University of Tennessee. The collage turned them down because of their race. There was a big uprouse and a case went to court about it.