ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) — James Wells, a member of a South Carolina civil rights protest group known as the Friendship Nine, has died.
Monique Ramseur with the Robinson Funeral Home confirmed that the Rock Hill lawyer died Sunday at age 77.
James Wells, 2011. Photo Credit: Friendship Nine Website
The Herald of Rock Hill reported that Wells spent a month in jail in 1961 after he and eight other black men were charged with trespassing at a whites only lunch counter in Rock Hill.
The convictions of Wells and the other members of the Friendship Nine were overturned in 2015.
Another member of the group, David Williamson, called Wells one of “our quiet leaders, an inspiration to us all.”
Ramseur did not know how Wells died. She was meeting with family members Monday afternoon to make arrangement for the funeral.
