In 1948, San Diego was the site of the Grant Hotel sit-in to protest racism. The rapid growth of blacks in San Diego during WW II paved way for an expanded NAACP branch. Humiliated and angered at being refused a snack at a downtown “greasy spoon,” the NAACP’s president, a dentist, recruited a group of black and white students at San Diego State College, rehearsed them to act as customers and witnesses, then targeted white-owned restaurants that discriminated. As the black students were denied service, already seated white students who were on their side observed and later testified in court. The NAACP filed and won 31 of its 32 lawsuits, usually with court awards to plaintiffs of $300 per case, which the students split with their attorney. The ultimate triumph was desegregation of the Grant Grill at the prestigious U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. Read more San Diego and desegregation history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
