Greensboro sit-ins

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Section of Lunch Counter from Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's now at Smithsonian Institution
Section of Lunch Counter from Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's now at Smithsonian Institution

The Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, leading to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in American history.[1]


Contents

[edit] Actions at Woolworth's

On February 1, 1960, four African American students -- Ezell A. Blair Jr. (now known as Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain -- from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, a historical black college/university, sat at a segregated lunch counter in the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's store. This lunch counter only had chairs/stools for whites, while blacks had to stand and eat. Although they were refused service, they were allowed to stay at the counter. The next day there was a total of 27 students at the Woolworth lunch counter for the sit in. On the third day, there were 300 activists, and later, around 1000.[2]

This protest sparked sit-ins and economic boycotts that became a hallmark of the American civil rights movement.

According to McCain,

"Some way through, an old white lady, who must have been 75 or 85, came over and put her hands on my shoulders and said, 'Boys I am so proud of you. You should have done this 10 years ago.'"[3]

[edit] Impact

In just two months the sit-in movement spread to 15 cities in 9 states. Other stores, such as the one in Atlanta, moved to desegregate.

The media picked up this issue and covered it nationwide. The Greensboro sit-ins played a large role in spreading the civil rights movement to a larger audience and dramatizing segregation at a time when many, especially in the North, were not fully aware of its scope. The Greensboro sit-ins inspired civil rights groups to take up this tactic and use it to publicize segregation - beginning with lunch counters and spreading to other forms of public accommodation, including transport facilities, art galleries, beaches, parks, swimming pools, libraries, and even museums around the South.[4] The Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated desegregation in public accommodations.

In 1993, a portion of the lunch counter was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The Greensboro Historical Museum contains four chairs from the Woolworth counter along with photos of the original four protesters, a timeline of the events, and headlines from the media. This sit-in inspired all the others[citation needed] during and after the Civil Rights Movement.

Several documentaries have been produced about these men who sparked the sit in movement, including PBS' "February One"[5]

[edit] Previous sit-ins

The sit-in movement used the strategy of nonviolent resistance, which originated in Gandhi's Indian independence movement and was later brought to the Civil Rights movement by Martin Luther King. This was not the first sit-in to challenge racial segregation. As far back as 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality sponsored sit-ins in Chicago, St. Louis in 1949 and Baltimore in 1952. However, the Greensboro sit-in was far more successful.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ First Southern Sit-in, Greensboro NC ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans
  2. ^ The Woolworth Sit-In That Launched a Movement National Public Radio
  3. ^ Gary Younge, "The act that gave the struggle new life". McCain has described the same event for National Public Radio, broadcast on All Things Considered, February 1, 2008.
  4. ^ Sit-ins Spread Across the South ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans
  5. ^ "February One".
  6. ^ Davis, Townsend (1998). Weary Feet, Rested Souls: A Guided History of the Civil Rights Movement. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 311. ISBN 0393045927. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) (Timeline)
Topics and events
Activists
Activist groups
v • d • e
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T State)