The second day of the sit-in, with McNeil and McCain joined by William Smith and Clarence Henderson (http://ift.tt/1wjY33h)
A protest in New York supporting the NC sit-in (http://ift.tt/1dAEeqL)
A statue commemorating the Greensboro Four at the NC A&T campus, where they studied (http://ift.tt/1Sn80Zp)
February 1st 1960: Greensboro sit-in
On this day in 1960, four African-American college students walked into the Woolworth store in Greensboro, NC. and sat at the whites-only lunch counter. By 1960, the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum, especially following the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-6 which was prompted by Rosa Parks’s defiance of the city’s segregated public transport. Activists calling for black civil rights, influenced by Martin Luther King Jr’s nonviolent tactics, employed peaceful protest. The power of this approach was exemplified by Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond on February 1st, 1960. Inspired by previous sit-in protests, the black students were refused service in the segregated diner, but continued to sit patiently and wait to be served. As they sat, the students were threatened and harrassed by the white patrons, but they refused to respond with violence. The sit-ins continued for the next few days, with hundreds of demonstrators eventually joining the protest. The heroism of the Greensboro activists inspired a wave of sit-ins across the south, with 54 taking place by February 7th. By the end of 1960, over 1,500 black demonstrators had been arrested for taking part in sit-ins. However, their efforts were not in vain, and the sit-ins - along with widespread boycotts - prompted restaurants across the south to desegregate. Additionally, the Student Nonviolent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed that year to organise future grassroots protests. The decade that followed was characterised by stoic protests by African-Americans, despite the ever-present threat of violence. The first freedom ride occurred in 1961, followed by protest marches including the iconic March on Washington in 1963. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965, important steps were made towards racial equality. The Greensboro sit-ins were not the first of their kind, but they mark a major moment in the Civil Rights Movement as they drew attention to the injustices of Jim Crow and inspired a youth-led movement to challenge segregation across the United States.
(Sources: http://ift.tt/1xMJalb, http://ift.tt/1Sn81fD)
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