- Greensboro sit-ins
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. [ [http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis60.htm#1960greensboro First Southern Sit-in, Greensboro NC] ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans]Actions at Woolworth's
On
February 2 ,1960 , fourAfrican American studentsndashEzell A. Blair Jr. (now known as Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCainndash fromNorth Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University , a historically black college/university, sat at a segregated lunch counter in theGreensboro, 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 28 students at the Woolworth lunch counter for the sit in. On the third day, there were 300 activists, and later, around 1000. [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18615556 The Woolworth Sit-In That Launched a Movement] National Public Radio]This protest sparked
sit-ins and economicboycotts that became a hallmark of theAmerican 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. [ [http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis60.htm#1960sitins Sit-ins Spread Across the South] ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans] The
Civil Rights Act of 1964 [ [http://finduslaw.com/civil_rights_act_of_1964_cra_title_vii_equal_employment_opportunities_42_us_code_chapter_21 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 othersFact|date=February 2008 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" [ [http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/februaryone/ "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 byMartin Luther King . This was not the first sit-in to challenge racial segregation. As far back as 1942, theCongress of Racial Equality sponsored sit-ins in Chicago, St. Louis in 1949 and Baltimore in 1952. On August 19, 1958, the Oklahoma City NAACP Youth Council began a six-year long campaign of sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, restaurants, and cafes in Oklahoma City. The Greensboro, North Carolina sit-in, however, were the most influential.cite book
last=Davis
first=Townsend
coauthors=
title=Weary Feet, Rested Souls: A Guided History of the Civil Rights Movement
publisher=W. W. Norton & Company
date=1998
location= New York
pages=311
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=S7IYlI9KopkC
doi=
id=
isbn=0393045927 ]References
ee also
*
American Civil Rights Movement
*American Civil Rights Movement Timeline
*F.W. Woolworth Company
*
*African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) External links
* [http://objectofhistory.org/objects/intro/lunchcounter/ Object of History: Greensboro Lunch Counter]
* [http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis60.htm Timeline of the Greensboro Sit-Ins]
* [http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/februaryone/ "February One" documentary on PBS]
* [http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/greensboro_1960.htm Greensboro 1960]
* [http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/sitins/a/sitins.htm "About.com" Lunch counter sit-ins]
* [http://www.greensborohistory.org/exhibits/exhibits_sitins.html Greensboro Historical Museum]
* [http://www.sitins.com/story.shtml Greensboro sit-ins--Launch of the civil rights movement]
* [http://www.core-online.org/History/sit_ins.htm Making Equality a Reality - History of Sit ins]
* [http://library.uncg.edu/greensborovoices/ Greensboro VOICES--Civil Rights Oral Histories]
* [http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhome.htm History & Timeline] ~ Civil Rights Movement Veterans
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