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White as Miss Albany State, 1961
White was crowned Miss Albany State in the fall of 1961, but was forced to decide between accepting the title and its accompanying scholarship or continuing her involvement as a civil rights activist. White chose to help end segregation, a decision that led to her suspension, eventual expulsion from Albany State University, and the loss of her Miss Albany State crown.
SNCC album “Freedom in the Air”
The cover of the SNCC album “Freedom in the Air,” showing protesters kneeling in Albany, Georgia. White was involved as a singer for the album.
Freedom Alley
Black demonstrators herded into what became known as “Freedom Alley.” White was one of the protesters in the alley. Knowing that not everyone detained could fit in the tiny town jail, White pushed her way forward to be one of those arrested in order to make a statement.
Associated Press
Protesting in Albany, Georgia
Albany mayor Asa Kelley orders black protesters outside of city hall to disperse on December 13, 1961. White was arrested early that day and taken to the jail in Newton, Georgia. She was unaware that the movement was escalating and that Martin Luther King Jr. had decided to come to Albany to join the protest.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
Police lead protesters to the Albany jail on July 11, 1962
The demonstrators were marching as part of a boycott of white-owned stores and in support of Martin Luther King Jr., who decided to go to jail rather than pay a fine.
Associated Press
Planning session
Members of the Albany Movement, including Andrew Young, at a planning session on July 1, 1962. White was one of the key players in the early demonstrations that started the movement.
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Protesting arrests
Demonstrators carry signs protesting the arrest of civil rights leaders in Albany, Georgia, in early 1962. Although White and other students had been protesting for years, the “Albany Movement” officially began in November 1961.
Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Arctic Bear Drive-In in Albany, Georgia
A photo of the Arctic Bear Drive-In in Albany, Georgia, the site of White’s first overt protest action in the fall of 1959. Instead of eating in the car as she and other black patrons normally did, she insisted on eating at the benches. When the manager asked that they leave, White refused.
Vanishing Georgia, Georgia Division of Archives and History, Office of Secretary of State
Church Rally in Albany
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a sermon to a packed church rally at Albany, Georgia, on July 21, 1962. King had come to the town to support the Albany Movement, which was launched a few years earlier by Albany State University students like Annette Jones.
Associated Press
Protesters Praying
Five hundred black demonstrators kneel in prayer on a sidewalk in Albany, Georgia, on July 22, 1962. They were arrested for parading without a permit. Despite constant harassment and widespread incarcerations, White and others pursued action in Albany, gaining the attention and support of national civil rights figures like Martin Luther King Jr.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
Four black protesters are loaded into a police wagon
Albany, Georgia on August 1, 1962. The young men were part of a group that tried to integrate lunch counters in the town. White had been involved in sit-ins and desegregation protests since 1959 when she refused to get up from the tables used by white patrons at the Arctic Bear Drive-In.
Associated Press
The movement expanded
The Albany Movement was not confined to Albany State University, where students like White began organizing protests. In this photo, men wash paint reading “No Niggers Please” off of a window at Albany High School on September 4, 1962. A group of black students attempted to register at the all-white school, but they were not admitted.
Associated Press
Student Government Leadership
A photo of Albany State University’s Student Government Leadership, of which White was a member. The group was organized with the help of Dean Irene Asbury, who served as a role model for White.
A young Annette Jones White
A young Annette Jones White, in the center of the bottom row.
Collection of Annette Jones White
An old photo of White
An old photo of White, standing on the far right.
Collection of Annette Jones White
White as a teenager
This photo shows White as a teenager, sitting on steps with others. White is seated on the left.
Collection of Annette Jones White
White as a young girl.
White is in the center of the photo
Collection of Annette Jones White