Black History Month: The Greensboro Sit-In

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of Emmett Till many calls to action for Civil Rights were taking shape. One of the earliest started in my hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. This event that would take shape would become known as the Greensboro Sit-In and its formation would take shape in a way that not only changed the city, but the country as a whole forever.

By the fall of 1959, Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond were all best friends who attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, commonly referred to as A&T in Greensboro, North Carolina. The four friends were heavily impacted by the murder of Emmett Till and the actions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and felt that a call to action against racial discrimination was requesting their assistance. The quartet started meeting in their dorm rooms on a regualr basis to discuss what they could do to contribute to the rapidly growing Civil Rights movement taking place across the nation.

During their time period of brainstorming ideas for how they could lend aid to the fight for justice and equality an incident took place in which Joseph McNeil attempted to buy a hotdog at the Greensboro Greyhound bus station and was refused service because he was African American. This event was the final emotional cord that moved the group of friends to start taking action against racial segregation. With Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the driving force of inspiration for the group the four friends decided that his method of peaceful protesting would be their weapon for justice and equality warfare.

The quartet came up with a plan: they were going to go to the F. W. Woolworth Company store at 132 South Elm Street in Greensboro and request to be served. Knowing that they would of course be denied service due to the customs of segregation, they would seat themselves in the forbidden area and stay seated for as long as possible and continue this process on a daily basis so that widespread media attention would put focus on the issue of segregation at hand. The first official sit in took place on February 1, 1960 at 4:30p.m. The four friends purchased several products from the non-segregated section of the store and eventually sat down at the segregated lunch counter. The friends then ordered coffee and donuts, but were inevitably refused service when the White female waitress who was working at the counter reminded them that Negroes were not to be served in the section of which they were sitting.

The actions of the four friends instantly drew attention. Two Black female employees working in the store immediately condemned the actions of the four young men, labelling them as instigators of trouble. Adversely, an elderly White female who was sitting near the boys expressed admiration for their actions, exclaiming that she was proud of the stand they were taking and that she only wished that someone else would have made the same stand earlier. These encounters are exactly what the quartet knew and hoped would become of their actions, opposition and admiration. If they had any fear or trepidation before they enacted their plans it was now subsided by the results they received that they knew would come.

Interestingly enough, Woolworth store manager, Clarence Harris would ask the group to leave, but did not call law enforcement to come remove the quartet, believing that the men would leave after realizing their actions would be futile, as the next day approached, this would not be the case. By the next day word of the group who would become known as the Greensboro Four began to spread around the city and not only drew more attention, but more participants of the protest. On February 2, 1960, 20 more Black students would join the protest. Their actions drew opposition and harassment from White customers and the news media quickly began covering the story of the unfolding protest.

After returning to campus on the second day of protest the students of A&T created a group called the Student Executive Committee for Justice. The group's first action was writing a letter to the president of Woolworth, asking him to stand against the discrimination they were protesting:

"Dear Mr. President: We the undersigned are students at the Negro college in the city of Greensboro. Time and time again we have gone into Woolworth stores in Greensboro. We have bought thousands of items at the hundreds of counters in your stores. Our money was accepted without rancor or discrimination, and with politeness towards us, when at a long counter just three feet away our money is not acceptable because of the colour of our skins...... We are asking your company to take a firm stand to eliminate discrimination. We firmly believe that God will give you courage and guidance in solving the problem. Sincerely Yours, Student Executive Committee". - Student Executive Committee for Justice.

By the third day of the protest dozens more would join the movement. This time students form other institutions including Bennett College and Dudley Highschool in Greensboro were now part of the protest. By the fourth day the students were eventually joined by three White female student from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro named Genie Seamen, Marilyn Lott, and Ann Dearsley. The support of the protest was growing so much that it was going beyond just the lunch counters at Woolworth and found its way to Greensboro's five and dime retail department store, S. H. Kress & Co.

As the support of the sit ins grew, so did its opposition. On the 5th day 50 White males would show up as counter protestors, several of which were removed by law enforcement due to the growing hostility and George Dorsett of the Greensboro chapter of the Ku Klux Klan put his opposition to the protest on full display. Over the course of the following days and months the number of protest supporters would grow from hundreds to eventually thousands. The protest would even expand to other cities in the state including: Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham and Winston-Salem. From here the protest would eventually expand to other states in the southern United States including Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and Mississippi. The effects of the Sit-ins grew so much that even United States president Dwight D. Eisenhower took notice and shared thoughts of empathy and concern over the movement at hand. By July of 1960 Woolworth suffered heavy financial losses due to the protest. It was here that manager Clarence Harris reluctantly and quietly de-segregated the lunch counters at Woolworth in Greensboro. The first Black customers to be served were three of Woolworth's own employees.

What does this revolutionary movement mean to me as a Black male? As a Greensboro native I was extremely honored to learn this story as a young boy. To know that my city had such a powerful presence in the fight for Justice and equality was heartwarming. I really appreciate the Greensboro Four for fighting for me to be able to go anywhere I want and sit anywhere want in my city without a barrier of inequality standing in my way. The Greensboro Four took the stand and bore the brunt of pain so that I would not have to and I honestly believe there is no way I could ever repay them. So as a Greensboro native I say thank you to Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil for leading such a powerful movement that ensured my equality.

~~Dedicated to the Greensboro Four: Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. Thank you for fighting for me.