Remembering UT student ‘stand-ins’ to integrate theaters [Video]

AUSTIN, Texas — In 1960, Austin was essentially two cities: one in which white residents enjoyed unfettered freedom, and one where Black residents were not allowed into many local, white-owned businesses, including stores, restaurants and theaters.

That same year, a small group of University of Texas students, most of whom were white, began protests at two movie theaters on the Drag in an attempt to force them to admit Black moviegoers.

The Varsity Theater and the Texas Theater were targets for the protests, known as “stand-ins.”

“We would walk in line, and we had to have at least one Black student come out with us because we were mostly white, and we would get in line at the ticket window and ask if we could buy two tickets or …