Site of CORE Four Lunch Counter Sit-In is Home to the 14th Marker Unveiled on state Civil Rights Trail

Nya Lombard, Judge Edwin Lombard, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, Jessica Goldfinch, state Rep. Candace Newell, and New Orleans District D City Councilman Eugene Green at the unveiling of the state’s newest Civil Rights Trail Marker on June 9. The marker was unveiled at 1001 Canal St., the former site of McCrory Five and Dime, where Rudy Lombard, Oretha Castle Haley, Cecil Carter, and Sydney Goldfinch led a lunch counter sit-in to protest segregation of public facilities in September 1960.

By Ayiana Love
For The New Orleans Tribune

Elected officials, community leaders, historians, and civil rights advocates gathered in early June to unveil the state’s newest marker on the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail. Nearly 66 years after four young activists challenged segregation at a downtown New Orleans lunch counter, their courageous efforts are being honored and remembered with a marker at the site of the former McCrory Five and Dime store,

The ceremony began with former news anchor Norman Robinson thanking attendees and acknowledging relatives of Rudy Lombard, Oretha Castle Haley, Cecil Carter, and Sydney Goldfinch. The four local college students became known as the CORE Four, and their protest on Sept. 9, 1960, at McCrory’s, catapulted efforts to desegregate public spaces in New Orleans during the Civil Rights Movement.

The arrest of the CORE Four at McCrory’s became the catalyst for the case Lombard v. State, which challenged segregation in restaurants. The ruling helped advance the fight for integration and played a significant role in inspiring future civil rights demonstrations across the South.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, who, through the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, has led the creation of the state’s Civil Rights Trail, spoke of learning about civil rights trails in other states, such as Mississippi and Alabama, only to realize Louisiana did not have one of its own.

“In 2018, I went to a lieutenant governors’ conference in Arizona, and Mississippi got up to brag about their civil rights trail,” Lt. Nungesser said. “I turned to Jude and asked him, ‘Do we have a civil rights trail?’ He said no. When I stood up, I apologized and said, ‘I don’t know why we don’t have a trail, but I am going to figure it out.”

Since the unveiling of the first marker in 2021 at Dooky Chase restaurant, Louisiana now has a total of 14 Civil Rights Trail markers, including five in New Orleans, with the most recent unveiling.

Other speakers, including state Rep. Candace Newell and Judge Edwin Lombard, who is the brother of CORE Four member Rudy Lombard, addressed the crowd and presented plaques to family members of the four civil rights pioneers.

Nya Lombard, Rudy Lombard’s cousin, spoke about what it meant to see her relative honored in such a meaningful way.

“I like the fact that there’s a visible representation to show what happened. Even though Rudy is gone, his legacy is alive and well,” she said. “I hope the message is relayed to more generations to come.”

The marker was unveiled at 1001 Canal Street, the former site of McCrory’s Five and Dime. Now home to the Ruby Slipper Cafe, the location serves as a reminder of a pivotal moment in civil rights history. Organizers hope the monument will ensure that the events that unfolded there, and the impact they had on the fight for equality, are never forgotten.