On February 1, 1960, four African-American students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at a white-only lunch counter inside a Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth’s store.
The first Greensboro sit-in was not spontaneous, rather it was meticulously planned and executed. The four students who staged the protest, all of them male freshmen, had read about nonviolent protest, and one of them, Ezell Blair, had seen a documentary on the life of Mohandas Gandhi.
The plan for the protest was simple. First, prior to entering the Woolworth's store, they contacted a newspaper reporter. Then they went to the Woolworth’s five-and-dime store and purchased some items, saving their receipts. After finishing their shopping, they proceeded to sit down at the lunch counter and courteously requested service. After being denied service, they produced their receipts and asked why their money was good everywhere else in the store, but not at the lunch counter.
The students remained at the lunch counter into the evening and the first day of the sit-ins ended without any significant incident. When the four students returned to their campus, they were greeted as heroes by fellow students.
Other students followed their example over the following days. On February 2nd, twenty-four students took part in a sit-in at the Woolworth's food counter.
On February 4th, black students were joined by white female students from the North Carolina's Women's College. The ensuing chaos caused the restaurant to shut down.
By February 7th, there were 54 sit-ins throughout the South in fifteen cities in nine states.
The first Greensboro sit-in was not spontaneous, rather it was meticulously planned and executed. The four students who staged the protest, all of them male freshmen, had read about nonviolent protest, and one of them, Ezell Blair, had seen a documentary on the life of Mohandas Gandhi.
The plan for the protest was simple. First, prior to entering the Woolworth's store, they contacted a newspaper reporter. Then they went to the Woolworth’s five-and-dime store and purchased some items, saving their receipts. After finishing their shopping, they proceeded to sit down at the lunch counter and courteously requested service. After being denied service, they produced their receipts and asked why their money was good everywhere else in the store, but not at the lunch counter.
The students remained at the lunch counter into the evening and the first day of the sit-ins ended without any significant incident. When the four students returned to their campus, they were greeted as heroes by fellow students.
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| The Greensboro Four: David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., Joseph Alfred McNeil |
Other students followed their example over the following days. On February 2nd, twenty-four students took part in a sit-in at the Woolworth's food counter.
On February 4th, black students were joined by white female students from the North Carolina's Women's College. The ensuing chaos caused the restaurant to shut down.
By February 7th, there were 54 sit-ins throughout the South in fifteen cities in nine states.
One of the reasons that Greensboro was so important to the Civil Rights movement is that the press took a great interest in it and the protest was fully reported around the country. Photos of students (both white and African American) having food poured
over them at had an effect on the public in northern, eastern, and
western sates. Many were horrified that such behavior could take place
in America--the land of the free.
While the greatest value of the sit-ins was in the press coverage they received, they also achieved some tangible impact. Stores in Atlanta, the city most associated with Martin Luther King Jr., desegregated. And the Woolworth's at Greensboro eventually agreed to desegregate its food counter in July 1960.
If you ever find yourself in Washington D.C., you can experience a performance similar to this first hand at the Smithsonian American History Museum. Hope and I went two summers ago (2012) and participated in a training similar to what you saw in the above video.
Woolworth's Lunch Counter
Above and Beyond Assignment
The Greensboro Sit-Ins of 1960 are an important part of civil rights history. Like the calculated act of Homer Plessy, this action brought the issue of desegregation squarely into the public's view. What do you think about the lunch counter sit-ins? What did you learn about the tactics used in this act of civil disobedience?
Above and Beyond Assignment
The Greensboro Sit-Ins of 1960 are an important part of civil rights history. Like the calculated act of Homer Plessy, this action brought the issue of desegregation squarely into the public's view. What do you think about the lunch counter sit-ins? What did you learn about the tactics used in this act of civil disobedience?
