Background
Five African American college students went to a department store in Columbia, South Carolina, and sat down at its lunch counter and waited for service. The department store allowed persons of all races to use all facilities except for the lunch counter, which served whites only. The store manager has arranged for police to be present for any sit-in demonstrators, and then, consistent with the restaurant's policy of refusing service to blacks, the restaurant manager requested the persons to leave. When they refused, they were arrested for breach of peace and criminal trespass. At trial the defendants their arrest, prosecution, and conviction by the state for requesting service at a restaurant that refused service to African Americans would violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The trial court convicted the students, and the Supreme Court of South Carolina affirmed in an unreported decision.
Read more about this topic: Barr V. City Of Columbia
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