Mississippi marks 50th anniversary of lunch counter sit-in that challenged segregation

FILE - In this May 28, 1963 file photograph, a group of whites poured sugar, ketchup and mustard over the heads of Tougaloo College student demonstrators at a sit-in demonstration at a Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Jackson, Miss. Seated at the counter, from left, are Tougaloo College professor John Salter,and students Joan Trumpauer and Anne Moody. Mississippi is unveiling a marker Tuesday, May 28, 2013 that commemorates a civil rights protest 50 years ago at the downtown Jackson Woolworth’s.(AP Photo/Jackson Daily News, Fred Blackwell, File) (The Associated Press)

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FILE - In this May 12, 2009 file photo, civil rights activist Joan Trumpauer Mulholland discusses the events that surrounded her being photographed as she and other Tougaloo College students were being abused by white youth in1963 as they tried to integrate a Woolworth Department Store lunch counter in Jackson, Miss. Mississippi is unveiling a marker Tuesday, May 28, 2013 that commemorates that civil rights protest 50 years ago. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) (The Associated Press)

JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi will inaugurate a marker Tuesday recalling a civil rights protest 50 years ago when a white mob attacked a racially mixed group seated at a whites-only lunch counter.

On May 28, 1963, the mob attacked some Tougaloo College students and faculty members who opposed segregation by sitting at the whites-only counter at a Woolworth's five-and-dime store in Jackson. Some of the peaceful demonstrators were beaten. Others were doused with ketchup, mustard and sugar.

The marker is part of the Mississippi Freedom Trail, a series of signs honoring those who challenged segregation. The sit-in was similar to other protests around the South and occurred two weeks before Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in Jackson.

The Woolworth's, which was located on a downtown Jackson street, closed decades ago.