Last updated: April 22, 2025
Place
Lowndes Tent City
Tom Lankford, Birmingham News, Alabama Department of Archives and History
Quick Facts
Significance:
A temporary home for evicted residents of Lowndes County
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
Tent City, located on a six-acre plot, was established in 1966 by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Lowndes County Christian Movement for Human Rights (LCCMHR). Tent City provided shelter for black families evicted from their homes by white landowners in retaliation for attempting to register to vote. With their livelihoods threatened, these families faced the impossible choice of leaving Lowndes County or becoming homeless. To prevent this mass exodus, SNCC organizers, led by Gloria Larry, purchased tents and supplies using $2,000 from SNCC's emergency fund, determined to help these displaced families remain in their community.
Tent City was assembled in the mud, with volunteers setting up 10 tents, 60 cots, and a dozen stove heaters. The living conditions were harsh, with families sharing a single outhouse and some tents leaking during rainstorms or failing to retain heat. Despite the hardships, each tent was armed for protection, as Tent City faced regular harassment from "night riders," hostile White vigilantes who would drive through, firing shots into the camp multiple times a week.
Though life in Tent City was a daily struggle, it became a powerful symbol of the fight for justice. Food, clothing, and other aid poured in from the citizens of Detroit, MI. Food and clothing drives were held by many former Lowndes County residents who had relocated to MI for jobs in the auto industry as a part of The Great Migration. By March 1966, Detroit's LCCMHR had sent 20 tons of supplies, transported by Union Teamsters from Locals 337 and 299, just before Easter.
Local activists also sued White landowners in U.S. District Court. The case, Miles vs. Dixon, argued that the evictions were part of a larger effort to prevent Black residents from registering to vote and gaining political power. However, the court dismissed the case in June 1966, stating there was no concrete evidence. Today, the site of Tent City sits next to the Lowndes Interpretive Center, in the stand of trees between the faciliity and intersection of the highway.
Tent City was assembled in the mud, with volunteers setting up 10 tents, 60 cots, and a dozen stove heaters. The living conditions were harsh, with families sharing a single outhouse and some tents leaking during rainstorms or failing to retain heat. Despite the hardships, each tent was armed for protection, as Tent City faced regular harassment from "night riders," hostile White vigilantes who would drive through, firing shots into the camp multiple times a week.
Though life in Tent City was a daily struggle, it became a powerful symbol of the fight for justice. Food, clothing, and other aid poured in from the citizens of Detroit, MI. Food and clothing drives were held by many former Lowndes County residents who had relocated to MI for jobs in the auto industry as a part of The Great Migration. By March 1966, Detroit's LCCMHR had sent 20 tons of supplies, transported by Union Teamsters from Locals 337 and 299, just before Easter.
Local activists also sued White landowners in U.S. District Court. The case, Miles vs. Dixon, argued that the evictions were part of a larger effort to prevent Black residents from registering to vote and gaining political power. However, the court dismissed the case in June 1966, stating there was no concrete evidence. Today, the site of Tent City sits next to the Lowndes Interpretive Center, in the stand of trees between the faciliity and intersection of the highway.