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Thompson Sisters were warriors of the Civil Rights Movement [1]
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Date: 2025-06-25
Known as the Thompson Sisters, Alice, Jean and Shirley were on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. They participated in sit-ins, protests and the 1961 Freedom Rides.
“Beaten, and sometimes mauled by crowds, these three sisters showed extreme courage as they helped desegregate the south during their high school and college careers,” the Atlas Family website states.
Born in 1939, Alice was the sixth child of John and Cora Mae Atlas Thompson. Jean was born in 1942. The family moved to New Orleans in 1943, the year Shirley was born.
Following in the footsteps of their civic-minded parents, the sisters joined the NAACP Youth Council.
“They soon sought more direct action,” the family website states, “and in 1960 joined the New Orleans chapter of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE).” When the Freedom Rides began, they jumped on the buses and faced the consequences:
Alice was arrested Nov. 14, 1961 in Poplarville, Miss. Then she and four others were beaten in McComb, Miss.
On May 24, 1961, 19-year-old Jean was arrested in Jackson, Miss. She also was arrested in Audubon Park when she tried to use the restroom. “Going to jail,” she told the Historic New Orleans Collection in 2021, “you were with everybody so you were sitting there singing freedom songs.”
During her first Freedom Ride, Shirley, 18, was arrested June 6, 1961, charged with “breach of peace.” She was taken to Parchman State Penitentiary, where “she was slapped by police officers,” New Orleans Historical states.
A mugshot of Shirley Thompson from her arrest in the 1961 Freedom Rides. Credit: Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
Alice died in 2015 at 75; Shirley died in 1990 at 47. Jean continues to speak about her experiences, the family website states.
“Each of the Thompson Sisters made distinct contributions to the Civil Rights Movement,” New Orleans Historical states, “dismantling the foundations of racism across Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama.”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
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