While many are familiar with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, other civil rights leaders, such as East Tennessean Avon Rollins Sr., also played vital roles in desegregation and the struggle for equality during the Civil Rights Movement.
Born in 1941 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Rollins made a tremendous impact in the region through his involvement with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He later became the Director and CEO of the BECK Cultural Exchange Center, a nonprofit dedicated to African American history and culture.
Senior Associate at Cities United and local activist Andre Canty knew Rollins personally, “He was authentically him regardless of his accolades and praise. He demystified the civil rights movement in a way I could relate to during my own social awakening. He took a chance in me afresh college and sharpened me into the leader I am now.”
Rollins grew up during segregation and went to Austin High School before the high school combined with East High to become what is now Austin East High School. His activism journey began in high school shortly after the murder of Emmitt Till. In an interview for the D.C. Everest Oral History Project, he explains being disturbed by Till’s brutal murder, and his civics teacher encouraged him to write a paper about it. The paper describes how “we had to sit in the back of the bus” and how “they pick our mothers up, put a paper on the backseat of the car like we were some kind of animal.” The paper concludes with a message of hope, “America will, one day, America, you will be America to me.” He then became involved with the Highlander Folk School, just up the road from where he lived.
Avon Rollins Sr. met Marion Barry, who later became the mayor of D.C., during the Nashville City Movement which Barry led. Rollins got involved in the SNCC, and shortly after, they both became graduate students at the University of Tennessee, which had recently been desegregated. Together, they started several organizations, including a committee for the development of the African-American community.
Rollins was heavily involved in sit-ins, especially in Knoxville and Nashville where many of the church-related hospitals were closed to African Americans before 1963. Rollins asserts that a nun who worked at the Catholic hospital choked him with his tie during a sit-in while he held a sign that said, “We’re all brothers in Christ.”
As part of the SNCC executive committee, he traveled all over the South for sit-ins to help open up hospitals, theaters and other places for Black people.
Mr. Rollins reflects, “Back in the 1960s, we could not stay in hotels, so we had to end up staying in peoples’ homes.” He describes these stays, including befriending Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Dr. King loved to arm wrestle with me” and described Dr. King as “a very interesting person and a very keen listener.”
He traveled to Danville, Virginia, to spend a couple of days but ended up staying almost a year as the city remained largely segregated and violent. Rollins spoke of Danville, “There was more brutality than Birmingham or Selma or some of the other places.” He and other SNCC members were arrested in Danville while fighting for integration. Rollins then went to Birmingham, Alabama, and Mississippi in 1964. He was arrested almost 30 times during his activism career.
Avon Rollins Sr. participated in the March on Washington in 1963, where Dr. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. Rollins described Dr. King as the Civil Rights Movement’s “symbolic leader,” but also considered John Lewis, Marion Barry, Malcolm X and Chuck McDew crucial figures. He also details White people who helped fight for equality and participated in sit-ins.
Rollins had a radio show called “In Touch, Insight.” In 1966, he took a job at TVA as manager of Minority Resources and Development and retired after 29 years. An overpass in Knoxville was named in honor of him in 2015. Rollins died in 2016 at age 75.
In an interview about the March on Washington and his years of activism, Rollins reflects, “Four decades is a long time to look back and remember, but my years in the movement are years I will never forget.”
