African-American Civil Rights Movement

The Greensboro Sit-In

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.The primary event took place at the Greensboro,
North Carolina, Woolworth's store, now the International Civil Rights Center
and Museum.
On February 1, 1960, four African American students Ezell A. Blair Jr. ,
David Leinhail Richmond, Joseph Alfred McNeil, and Franklin Eugene McCain –
from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (A&T) , a historically
black college, 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 four students were
aware that Woolworth’s would not serve blacks at their lunch counter but they
sat down anyway, engaging themselves in a plan they had been discussing for a
month prior to the sit-in.
When notified by one of the waitresses of the events that were occurring
in his store that February afternoon, the store’s manager Clarence Harris
first told his staff to leave the students alone, hoping they would eventually
leave. However, Harris grew nervous that violence would soon ensue so he went
to the police. Although he did not have the men arrested, assuming their
demonstration would soon end, he did have several police officers stationed in
the store. Contrary to the manager's assumptions, the following morning the
four students, along with 23 other men and 4 women showed up at Woolworth’s
to protest. As the days went on, more and more students from the
Agricultural and Technical State University as well as Bennett College and
Dudley High School (all with a dominantly African American student population)
participated in the Woolworth sit-in.
The number of students grew so large that by February 5, four days
after the sit-in began, 300 students arrived at Woolworth’s to take part in
the peaceful protest. On February 6, tensions mounted between the blacks
and whites at the lunch counter. The football team from the university arrived
in hopes of using their size to threaten anyone who tried to stop the protest.
As white reaction to the demonstration grew more violent, a bomb scare
forced the protesters out of Woolworth's and C.L. Harris closed his store for
over two weeks.

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African-American Civil Rights Movement

Although the phone call that announced the bomb threat did occur, many
people were suspicious of the caller's identity, believing that the person was
not anonymous and that it was an attempt to halt the protest. The sit-in that
had begun with only four students had sparked a massive movement throughout
the Southern states as more and more protesters engaged in this type of
demonstration. This protest sparked sit-ins and economic boycotts that
became a hallmark of the American civil rights movement.
According to Franklin McCain, one of the four black teenagers who sat at
the "whites only" stools:"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.>>"
Success Greensboro sit-in prompted thousands of blacks to launch similar
campaigns in other cities throughout the South. Most sit-ins succeeded.
Atlanta students pledged their commitment to nonviolence, conducted sit-ins at
restaurants all over the city, and organized a massive boycott of segregated
businesses around Atlanta. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the students and was
even among those arrested. Just as in Greensboro, hurting local businessmen
eventually gave in and desegregated their stores.