Enas Hussein

“Sit-Ins” Summary

In the beginning of February 1960, four black students, by the names of Joseph McNeil,

Franklin McCain, David Richmond, and Ezell Blair Jr., with the intention of being served at a

lunch counter, were denied service after buying school supplies for the North Carolina

Agricultural and Technical College. These three freshmen didn’t receive their service but they

stayed in the Greensboro store, never bothering anyone, including the manager, C.L. Harris. The

next day, a larger “sit-in” group appeared in the store and word was already spreading about “sit-

ins” to other college campuses. Although the first one was not successful, in two weeks, about a

dozen sit-ins were organized and many stores began to fight back by putting signs denying

service. Many of the signs wrote, “NO TRESPASSING” and “CLOSED- In the Interest of the

Public Safety.” However, that did not stop their persistence.

The concept of the sit-ins was that they would sit in the store until they were served at the

lunch counters. They were peaceful protests and they acted accordingly and well-mannered.

They were forbidden to talk back or do anything to aggravate the customers or the store clerks.

Many of them brought book and studied until they were served, if they ever were. If they were

arrested, another group was ready for the sit-in the next day. When the news of the sit-ins

reached the North, they encouraged the protests and joined it. When asked by white people

concern themselves in these issues, Congressman dam Clayton Powell replied,”…injustice

anywhere is everybody’s concern.”

The first sit-ins were fairly peaceful; things took a turn on February 27th. White teenagers

attacked the young black protesters during the protest. When the prejudiced police arrive, they

arrested the protesters for “disorderly content,” and the protestors didn’t even fight back. Again,

another group of sit-in members were ready for the protest the next day. The arrested black

protesters were not given a fair trial when the judge turned his back on the lawyer of the

protesters. His verdict was obvious; the protestors were guilty with court fines and $150. The
arrests became more frequent; 63 protesters were arrested at Greyhound and Trailways bus

terminals in Nashville, Tennessee.

Many black rights organization such as SCLC, CORE, and NAACP encouraged

protestors in a meeting in Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina to set up organizations

within themselves. SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, will emerge to take

place of the sit-ins. On April 19th, Alexander Looby, a lawyer in the civil rights movement, had

his house bombed, angering not only him but many white people in the community. Instead of

responding with violence, a silent march to the City Hall that day was organized. After

interviewing Mayor Ben West, he responded to a news question about slavery; he said that

slavery is a moral question that “…a man had to answer, not a politician.” This march was a

success because a couple of weeks later, 6 lunch counters in Nashville began to serve black

students.

Sit-ins were a popular technique, attracting 70,000 participants and although 3,000 of

them were arrested, they continued to carry out sit-ins after the Civil Rights of 1964 deemed it

illegal to segregate customer service. Not only were lunch counters flooded with sit-ins; they

were in movie theaters, and public facilities (restrooms). SNCC was very effective in the civil

rights movement and showed America that nonviolent actions can be used to make a point and

fight against inequality.