The entry of Meharry in the Movement began on April 19, 1960. The home of famed civil rights attorney Z. Alexander Looby was bombed. In the early 1930s, Attorney Looby was appointed lecturer in medical jurisprudence at MMC. Years later as Looby’s reputation and success as a civil rights attorney grew, he became one of many to be targeted for his activism in the Movement. As it happens, attorney Looby’s home was directly across the street from the campus of Meharry.
On that fateful morning, terrorists detonated 21 sticks of dynamite—a blast so strong it shattered windows in campus buildings. Looby and his wife survived the assassination attempt, and the moment galvanized students to act.
Meharry students were a part of the march and moment which would culminate in one of the most important incidents in the history of the Movement both locally and nationally.
