Today is the 51st anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in. Be sure to read Howell Raines’ criticism of news media coverage of civil rights issues in last year’s New York Times: “What I am suggesting is that the one thing the South should have learned in the past 50 years is that if we are going to hell in a handbasket, we should at least be together in a basket of common purpose.”
Four young men turned a page of history on February 1, 1960, at a lunch counter in a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond, sat down at the counter to order lunch. Because they were African Americans, they were refused service. Patiently, they stayed in their seats, awaiting justice.
On July 25, nearly six months later, Woolworth’s agreed to desegregate the lunch counter. One more victory for non-violent protest.
Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond leave the Woolworth store after the first sit-in on February 1, 1960. (Courtesy of Greensboro News and Record) (Smithsonian Institution)
News of the “sit-in” demonstration spread. Others joined in the non-violent protests from time to time, 28 students the second day, 300 the third day, and some days up to 1,000. The protests spread geographically, too, to 15 cities in 9 states.
Smithsonian caption: "On the second day of the Greensboro sit-in, Joseph A. McNeil and Franklin E. McCain are joined by William Smith and Clarence Henderson at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Courtesy of Greensboro News and Record)"
Part of the old lunch counter was salvaged, and today is on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History. The museum display was the site of celebratory parties during the week of the inauguration as president of Barack Obama.
Part of the lunchcounter from the Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina, is now displayed at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C.
Notes and resources:
- See the Smithsonian’s on-line display about the decision in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education and the struggles for civil rights, “Separate is not equal.“
- F. W. Woolworth’s, a “five-and-dime” style store, largely closed its U.S. operations in 2001, though changing its focus to the Foot Locker shoe stores. One of its last remaining stronghold of 807 stores, in Great Britain, was shuttered at the end of 2008.
- Independent Lens program on PBS, “February 1″
- North Carolina History Project entry on the sit-in
Student video, American History Rules, We Were There – First person story related by Georgie N. and Greg H., with pictures:
Associated Press interview with Franklin E. McCain:
This is mostly an encore post.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
Thanks for the reference, Mary.
From the University of Illinois Press:
LikeLike
Why does the headline say “South Carolina?” Sometimes fingers nnot tlak tobrain. Do own thing (stooopid brain).
LikeLike
Of related interest: Dissent in Wichita, by Gretchen Cassel Eick, lunch counter sit-in before Greensboro, led by Ron Walters and others.
LikeLike
Why does the headline say South Carolina?
LikeLike
How interesting that you have this piece today, with the reference to the protests spreading from place to place. It gives one faint hope for Egypt, where protest spread from Tunisia.
May the good fates smile upon both the Tunisians and Egyptians.
LikeLike
[…] Mostly encore material, from earlier at this blog, and with permission from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. […]
LikeLike