Rock Hill’s Kounter restaurant, Friendship Nine civil rights hero on CBS News tonight
.jpg)
A Rock Hill restaurant and a civil rights hero will be featured tonight on the CBS Evening News.
Chef Rob Masone of Kounter restaurant, and David Williamson Jr. who was a member of the Friendship Nine, were interviewed for a segment called “Unifying America,” according to officials with Visit York County.
Kounter opened in December 2020 at the Main Street site of the former McCrory’s store. McCrory’s had a lunch counter in 1961 where Williamson and other Black protesters were arrested while protesting segregation of restaurants in the city.
The group arrested, later dubbed the Friendship 9 because eight were from Friendship Junior College, were convicted of trespassing and sentenced to 30 days on a York County chain gang. Their actions were later lauded across America and in 2015 their convictions were vacated.
“I am always proud to be able to share how important this place in Rock Hill is with people across the country,” Williamson said Tuesday.
Masone told The Herald in December Kounter kept the historic lunch counter as a focal point of the restaurant.
The segment is set to air during the CBS news program at 6:30 p.m.
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Rock Hill’s Kounter restaurant, Friendship Nine civil rights hero on CBS News tonight."
