The document Pope wrote, “An Appeal For Human Rights,” laid out the case for immediate student nonviolent resistance in the face of segregation and racism.

“We do not intend to wait placidly for those which are already legally and morally ours to be meted out to us at a time,” Pope wrote.

Calling her fellow students to action, the document proclaimed “that we cannot tolerate in a nation professing democracy and among people professing democracy, and among people professing Christianity, the discriminatory conditions under which the Negro is living today in Atlanta Georgia — supposedly one the most progressive cities in the South.” Pope signed the document as student body president of Spelman, alongside the student presidents of Morehouse, Atlanta University, Clark College, Morris Brown College and Interdenominational Theological Center.

Although many white publications refused to publish Pope’s manifesto, it was printed in several Atlanta-area papers and later picked up by The New York Times and the Harvard Crimson, among others. A New York Senator also placed the statement in the Congressional Record. After the publication of Pope’s manifesto, 1960 saw students across Atlanta engaging in nonviolent protests throughout the city, including demonstrations and sit-ins. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Atlanta in October alongside student protestors.

Pope herself participated in several protests but faded into the background as she graduated from Spelman. After earning her masters’ and doctorate degrees, she went on to have careers in academia, music and advertising. Though she never reached the level of national fame that other Civil Rights era leaders achieved, her legacy remains strong throughout Atlanta and around the country.

Roslyn pope

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