January 3, 1966 – Black Man & Veteran, Sammy Younge Jr., Murdered in Alabama for Using a “Whites-Only” Bathroom

On this day in history, Samuel (Sammy) Younge Jr., 21, was killed at a gas station in Macon County, Alabama for using the “whites-only” bathroom. Younge was a veteran who had lost a kidney while serving in the U.S. Navy.

Sammy Younge Jr. as an enlisted member in the United States Navy via Wikipedia

A Zinn Education Project history notes:

On Jan. 6, 1966, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) [Younge was an active member] issued a statement condemning Younge’s murder and against the war in Vietnam. SNCC saw Younge’s murder as a clear example of the U.S. government’s supposed fight for freedom abroad at the same time it denied that freedom to its Black citizens at home.”

Younge was shot by Marvin Segrest, the 68-year-old white gas station attendant at a Standard Oil station in Tuskegee, Alabama. Younge became the first black college student to be murdered for his actions in support of the Civil Rights Movement.

On January 4, 1966, Segrest was arrested, but released on $20,000 bond. He was indicted for murder in the second degree and tried on December 7. The trial was moved from Macon County, where blacks outnumbered whites by a 2-1 margin, to Lee County. He was found not guilty by an all-white jury the next day.