LUNCH COUNTER SITINS GREENSBORO

By: McKenzie Blackwood and Brie Prouhet

WHO WAS INVOLVED? o 4 African American freshman college boys o Whites who worked at the dinner and bi-standers o local police o ” A little old white lady who eyes us with that suspicious look ... she's not having very good thoughts about us nor what were doing,"

WHAT HAPPENED?
On February 1, 1960 there were 4 African Americans college students that came in and sat down at the
Woolworth’s lunch counter, they respectfully ordered food, but their request was denied and they were asked to leave, but they remained in their seats.
“I had the most wonderful feeling. I had a feeling of liberation, restored manhood. I had a natural high. And I truly felt almost invincible. Mind you, [I was] just sitting on a dumb stool and not having asked for service yet,"
McCain says.

WHERE AND WHEN DID THIS
OCCUR?
This occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Woolworth’s diner on February 1, 1960
“It was during nightly discussions in the dorm room that we considered challenging the institution of segregation.”
- McCain

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
White people would discriminate against the blacks, the blacks had enough, so four brave young men decided to stand up for themselves by doing the sit in at the diner.
Five days later their was approximately 300 students protesting at Woolworth’s. The sit in movement spread to
40 other cities.
The sit-ins helped to draw young people into the civil rights movement and create new leaders and organizations WHAT HAPPENED AFTER?
After the sit-ins at the “whites only” lunch counters, it inspired African Americans to have kneel-ins at segregated churches, sleep-ins at motel lobbies, swim-ins at the pools, wade-ins at beaches, read-ins at libraries, play-ins at parks, and watch-ins at the movies There were over 70,000 people involved which was a result in 3,000 arrest

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
TODAY?
o It shows that African Americans have the same rights as whites, and that now every man and woman are created equal. o "What I learned from that little incident was ... don't you ever, ever stereotype anybody in this life until you at least experience them and have the opportunity to talk to them.”

VISUALS

This is a picture of the white people pouring ketchup on the African
American people at the sit-ins

VISUAL

The original portion of the lunch counter and stools where the