Former activist finds mugshot from protest in 1960

JACKSON, Tenn. — Most families try to hide their relatives’ mugshots, but for the Skinner family, they’re proud of their father’s.

“Arrested March 3, 1960, 19 years old,” said Hollis Skinner.

Skinner is a Bradford native who decided to go to Tennessee State University for College. Shortly after he arrived, he decided he wanted to make a difference and fight racism.

“I knew I wanted to participate because I knew it was wrong. I had sat in the back of the bus, I had been prohibited from going into restaurants,” Skinner said.

That’s when he decided to join a sit-in at the Nashville Greyhound station.

It was part of a larger movement in the South will all sorts of demonstrations planned.

On March 3, 1960, a large group of Black residents entered the segregated station and refused to leave.

“As soon as we sat down, we heard a fire alarm, then a firetruck pulled up about a minute after we sat down, and then the police chief and fire chief came in,” Skinner said. “They really didn’t charge us with anything, but at that time, we were not allowed to enter and sit down and eat. We knew that.”

Skinner says he and others spent about a week in jail before the case was eventually dropped.

Skinner looked for the mugshot, but found little help with Nashville police.

Finally his granddaughter was able to look into archives and find a piece of personal history.

“I’m proud of it because what it stands for,” Skinner said.

Now, more than 60 years later, Skinner is still proud of his mugshot, and he won’t stop fighting.

“There are things for everybody to do,” he said. “I would tell any 19-year-old person to get involved.”

Skinner was previously an alderman for the city of Trenton. He was the first African-American elected in Gibson County.