Frank O. Sherrill papers

Frank O. Sherrill, a Shelby, North Carolina native, co-founded S&W Cafeteria in the 1920s, a chain of restaurants that operated in in North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, DC during the 1960s. The S&W chain had a reputation both for fine food as well as a pleasing, upscale atmosphere, and by the 1970s had grown to twenty-two cafeterias. By 1963, civil rights supporters pushed for desegregation of public accommodations throughout the South, and S&W faced pressure from the public and from civil rights organizations to desegregate their restaurants. Like so many other public facilities, the S&W Cafeterias excluded minorities until African-Americans began asserting their civil rights and demanded an end to segregation. Petitions in May of 1963 and a newspaper article dated June 5 indicate that Sherrill initially resisted desegregation of his restaurant chain, though he eventually bowed to public pressure to desegregate. During those months of protest in the spring and summer of 1963, Sherrill accumulated newspaper clippings on the issue of desegregation in the South as it affected him and his business. He also received letters from patrons on both sides of the issue (including those who had been his customers for many years), either to encourage him to resist desegregation or to ask that he extend equal treatment to African-Americans. By the end of June of 1963, S&W Cafeterias opened their doors to all customers regardless of race. [Sources: Frank O. Sherrill papers, UNC Charlotte Library, Mss 405 ; DePreist, Joe, “A Life on the Serving Line,” Charlotte Observer, Friday, December 29, 1995.]