Civil rights activist fights to save landmark
Helena Hicks remembers it vividly. It was a cold January day back in 1955. The 20-year-old Morgan State College student was at a bus stop with her friends at Lexington and Howard streets on the west side of Baltimore. Hicks said she and her friends were cold, hungry, tired -- fed up.
With that mindset, Hicks and her friends went into Read's drug store and took a seat at the lunch counter. The problem: the retail chain had a policy of not serving African-Americans.
So there they were, sitting at the counter asking to be served, only to be told "no." The students sat there for close to 30 minutes before deciding to leave, Hicks said. Police were never called, and there were no violent confrontations -- only plenty of stares and a few choice words thrown at them.
More than 55 years after that impromptu sit-in, Hicks and many members of the Baltimore community are trying to save the vacant Read's building where it all started. City officials and a developer have a $150 million model for a mixed-use development they would like to turn into reality.
Several people in the community welcome the development but say there should be a way to save what they consider a big part of Baltimore's history. Community meetings are being held, and the city as well as the developer say they are working on a compromise....
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With that mindset, Hicks and her friends went into Read's drug store and took a seat at the lunch counter. The problem: the retail chain had a policy of not serving African-Americans.
So there they were, sitting at the counter asking to be served, only to be told "no." The students sat there for close to 30 minutes before deciding to leave, Hicks said. Police were never called, and there were no violent confrontations -- only plenty of stares and a few choice words thrown at them.
More than 55 years after that impromptu sit-in, Hicks and many members of the Baltimore community are trying to save the vacant Read's building where it all started. City officials and a developer have a $150 million model for a mixed-use development they would like to turn into reality.
Several people in the community welcome the development but say there should be a way to save what they consider a big part of Baltimore's history. Community meetings are being held, and the city as well as the developer say they are working on a compromise....