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.

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, an historically 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.

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

According to McCain,

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. 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 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

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.

References

See also

• American Civil Rights Movement
• American Civil Rights Movement Timeline
• F.W. Woolworth Company
• February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
• African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)

External links

• Object of History: Greensboro Lunch Counter
• Timeline of the Greensboro Sit-Ins
• "February One" documentary on PBS
• Greensboro 1960
• "About.com" Lunch counter sit-ins
• Greensboro Historical Museum
• Greensboro sit-ins--Launch of the civil rights movement
• Making Equality a Reality - History of Sit ins
• Greensboro VOICES--Civil Rights Oral Histories
• History & Timeline ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans

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.

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, an historically 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.

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

According to McCain,

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. 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 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

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.

References

See also

• American Civil Rights Movement
• American Civil Rights Movement Timeline
• F.W. Woolworth Company
• February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
• African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)

External links

• Object of History: Greensboro Lunch Counter
• Timeline of the Greensboro Sit-Ins
• "February One" documentary on PBS
• Greensboro 1960
• "About.com" Lunch counter sit-ins
• Greensboro Historical Museum
• Greensboro sit-ins--Launch of the civil rights movement
• Making Equality a Reality - History of Sit ins
• Greensboro VOICES--Civil Rights Oral Histories
• History & Timeline ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans