A McKinley High School bench will mark one of the first Civil Rights Movement memorials in Louisiana to honor the leaders and participants of the 1953 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott.
This bench — a product of the Toni Morrison Society’s Bench by the Road Project, named after the African-American author — will be the 18th of its kind. The other 17 are situated in locations such as Paris and Mississippi.
The Toni Morrison Society launched the Bench by Road Project in February 2006.
Kali Johnson, communications director for the Baton Rouge Bench Commemorative Committee, said it is important for Baton Rouge to house one of the Toni Morrison Society benches because the nation’s first bus boycott took place took place there, serving as a model for the more widely-known Montgomery Bus Boycott.
“[Baton Rouge] is home to such a monumental point in history, and it is important to memorialize it so future generations in the city know about it,” Johnson said. “This bench provides an opportunity for local communities, states and nations to give a moment of reflection and allow them to connect to the past.”
She said the bench’s unveiling is set for February 2016, to coincide with Black History Month. Donations from Aetna Better Health of Louisiana and MetroMorphosis will fund the memorial bench.
Although this is the one of the only memorials for civil rights in Baton Rouge, Johnson said it won’t be the last. She said it will be up to the Toni Morrison Society to determine where the next bench will be placed.
“I hope that this opens the eyes of current and future generations to the significant piece that leaders in Baton Rouge, like T.J. Jemison, played in the Civil Rights Movement,” Johnson said. “The bench is just an educational piece to understand the significance of our role in Civil Rights.”
Information systems and decision sciences junior Tia Williams, who is black, said she doesn’t believe either LSU or Baton Rouge make enough of an effort to honor and memorialize the Civil Rights Movement or African-American leaders.
“I honestly don’t think that any city recognizes this era enough,” Williams said. “These leaders contributed a lot to society, yet received so little credit, which is why it’s important that we start to give that to them.”

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Courtesy of tonimorrisonsociety.org