On May 26, 1956, two Florida A&M University students were arrested by the Tallahassee Police Department because they refused to give up their seats next to a white passenger. They were charged with "inciting a riot", though the white woman they sat next to made no objection. The next night a cross was burned outside their rooming house. Carrie Patterson, a FAMU junior, was a 21-year-old wife and mother from the small town of Lakeland, Florida. She was able to return home just twice a year. Wilhemina Jakes, a FAMU senior, was a 26-year-old born in Hardeeville, South Carolina and was from West Palm Beach, Florida. Both young women were studying elementary education at FAMU.