Joan Katherine Lillian Garner - Daughter of John Burrell Garner

Garner v. Louisiana was a U.S. Supreme Court Case that resulted from sit-ins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1960. John Burrell Garner was a law student that participated in a sit-in at Sitman’s Drug Store in March of 1960 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The case consisted of three cases that were consolidated and named Garner v. Louisiana. This case was deemed by the United States Supreme Court Historical Society to be one of the United States Supreme Court’s Significant Oral Arguments spanning the years 1955- 1993.

Those that participated in these sit-ins in Baton Rouge were arrested and convicted of disturbing the peace. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “merely sitting peacefully in places where custom decreed that petitioners should not sit was not evidence of any crime, and it cannot be so considered either by the police or the courts.”

Joan Katherine Lillian Garner is the daughter of John Burrell Garner. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science and is currently a Master of Science in Management Candidate at Thomas Edison State University. She is a member of Golden Key, Gamma Pi Mu (Social Science) and Sigma Gamma Epsilon Honor Societies. Joan is also a member of Thomas Edison State University Alumni Association and Toastmasters International. She is an entrepreneur and has started a company called Garner Empowerment Consulting.

Joan stands in the line of three generations of college educated women and four generations of civil rights pioneers. She has continued the work for civil rights by working to preserve the history of her family and the history of Garner v. Louisiana as well as continuing the work for justice into the next generation.

Topics

• Garner v. Louisiana – Then and Now
• Louisiana and the Civil Rights Movement
• Racial Healing
• Resilience for both Youth and Adults
• Police Accountability
• Judicial Accountability