Hall, Bennett Hall, and Wightman Chapel. Civil rights history Desegregation Scarritt College welcomed its first black students—Leila Robinson and DeLaris Johnson—in 1952, making it one of the first private, predominately white colleges in Tennessee to desegregate. Robinson and Johnson became active in student life on campus: Robinson served as editor of the yearbook, and Johnson became Treasurer of the student council 1953–54. Scarritt College's desegregation also prompted Vanderbilt University, which is located across the street, to reconsider its policies on race and integration, since the two schools were affiliated through Joint University Center and Library at the time. Visit from Martin Luther King Jr. On April 25, 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in Wightman Chapel at Scarritt College to the Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations. The Conference on Christian Faith and Human Relations was hosted by Scarritt College and Vanderbilt Divinity School and co-sponsored by the Tennessee Council of Churches and the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen. “The salvation of the world lies in the hands of the maladjusted,” King said, “…the challenge to you is to be maladjusted to the evils of segregation [...], the madness of militarism, and the self-defeating method of physical violence.” Dr. King spoke on the last day of the conference and addressed some 350 church leaders, the day after receiving the Social Justice Award from the Religion and Labor Foundation in New York. King's speech was titled, "The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma". Student civil rights activism Campus Grill boycott (1963) In the spring of 1963, Lorine Chan, a Scarritt College student from Fiji, was denied service at the Campus Grill, a local “greasy spoon.” Around the same time, Rev. Abel Muzorewa and his wife, Maggie Chigodora, arrived in Nashville to attend Scarritt College. The local Methodist church near Scarritt College who had sponsored them refused membership to them upon their arrival in Nashville because Maggie was black. In response to these events, Gerry Bode, Sue Thrasher, Archie Allen, Mary Pless, and others formed the Christian Action Fellowship to work against racial discrimination. They also joined students at Peabody College and Vanderbilt University to form the Joint University Council on Human Relations. The Joint University Council on Human Relations coordinated a boycott of the Campus Grill, coordinating with black student leaders, John Lewis and Lester McKinnie. By November, Vanderbilt, Peabody and Scarritt College students and faculty