The Greensboro Four were a group of four African Americas in college that sat in a white only lunch counter in protest. During this event facilities in the South of the US were commonly segregated and banned black person use in them. This form of protest was know as a sit-in and started many other sit-in's in Greensboro and other areas of the US.
Greensboro Sit Ins
The story of how four courageous black men started a movement bigger than imaginable.
What is Civil Disobedience?
Civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines as a form of peaceful political protest.
The Greensboro Four display civil disobedience because the four men calmly sat at the lunch counter all day and never succumbed to any violent urges they may have had. Civil disobedience is more effective than violent protest. Examples of this is the suffrage parade, Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Singing Revolution in Estonia
"The 1960 Greensboro sit-ins, which adhered to Martin Luther King's idea of peaceful protests, became an important part of civil rights history. Leading the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in were students (left-to-right) David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil who inspired over 70,000 people to join in similar protests."
"Despite court decisions and integration of a limited number of public schools, much of daily American life still remained racially segregated in the 1960s. This segregation was especially strict in the southern and border states, where racial laws maintained the need for separate eateries, parks, railroad cars, and rest rooms for African-Americans and whites. Although African-Americans were permitted to shop in variety stores, sitting down and eating at the lunch counters in these establishments was not allowed. In 1960, the 120,000 people living in Greensboro, North Carolina, prided themselves on their progressive race relations, although the city's segregated conditions were as restrictive as those in other southern cities. Greensboro permitted only token integration in its schools, and lunch counters in the city would only serve African-Americans if they stood."
On February 1, 1960, four African-American students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at a white-only lunch counter inside a Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth’s store
This image is a direct picture of the four men sitting down and protesting against discrimination.
"These four first-year students had been encouraged to publically protest against segregation by Ralph Johns, a white owner of a clothing store that employed A & T students. Johns gave the students the money they used for the items they bought at Woolworth's and tipped off the newspaper. The four students also acknowledged that they had been influenced by Mohandas Gandhi's example of nonviolence in India but emphasized that their primary motivation came from their Christian beliefs and their sense of justice. Although the four students were youth members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), no civil rights organization was involved with the initial sit-in."
In summary, these four Black men walk into a restaurant sit down, (in the chairs for white men), and wait to be served. After this act was published in newspapers, it spread a worldwide act that over. By February 5, some 300 students had joined the protest. TV stations of the Greensboro sit-ins sparked a sit-in movement that spread quickly to college towns throughout the South and into the North. Young blacks and whites joined in various forms of peaceful protest against segregation in libraries, beaches, hotels and other establishments.
On February 1st, 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina, four A&T freshmen students, Ezell Blair, Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil & David Richmond
The greensboro four was a group of black college students who Sat at a white only section a a restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. This protest was to fight against the racial segregation that was present at the time.
The four Students ordered coffee and food, but were not served. they were harrased, insulted and beaten but they stayed in their seats until it was the restaurant's closing time.
When this Movement made newspapers across the country, the sit ins grew like wildfire. Around the country, more and more sit-ins were happening
A sit-in is a peaceful protest in which the activists take up a certain place and stay there until the impact they intended to make is acheived.
This is a map of how the protests have spread outside of that small restaurant in North Carolina.
After the sit-in, The SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Was formed to better fuel the civil rights movement.
An example of everybody protesting even white men.
Sit-ins extended to 9 southern states and 30 cities. This eventually led to the Civil Rights Act stating that segregation is banned in public facilities
Why would sitting at a lunch counter help civil rights?
-Bxzy sitting at lunch counters, the Greensboro Four displayed a peaceful protest which allowed them to continue protesting without getting into any legal trouble.
- By continuously returning to the lunch counter day after day, the Greensboro Four showed that they were not going to relent until they get their justice. If they had been violent, they would have gotten into legal trouble since it gives probable cause for them to get arrested since they could be convicted of assault or other charges, which will not do the Civil Rights Movement any good.
Sit-in movement sparks social change