By The Editors

When does a simple lunch become a civil rights milestone? On February 1, 1960, a group of African-American students made history when they sat at a “whites-only” lunch counter at a Woolworth’s Drugstore in Greensboro, N.C.

The student-organized sit-in began when four freshmen at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat at the Woolworth’s lunch counter and ordered something to eat. Though they were refused service, they remained until the store closed. The four – Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond – inspired other students, and the lunch counter protest grew to more than 300 student demonstrators, including three white female students from a neighboring school, by the fifth day.

Woolworth’s made half-hearted offers of concession, which the students turned down, opting to continue their sit-in. The city of Greensboro tightened its segregation laws, resulting in the arrest of 45 students, who were charged with trespassing.

More protests followed at segregated lunch counters throughout Greensboro. Store owners, pressured by the drop in revenues, were forced to give in. Meanwhile, similar protests spread around the nation. In the weeks that followed, some stores in the South dropped their policies of segregation even before the1964 Civil Rights Act.

Six months after the initial sit-in, Blair, McCain, McNeil and Richmond returned to that same lunch counter at Woolworth’s. They were served lunch.

Similar protests spread around the nation, leading to some stores integrating prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The lunch counter sit-ins inspired greater civil rights activism as well as the creation of such pivotal organizations as The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), formed on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., in April, 1960, to organize and support local sit-ins and protests.

The power of these student-led protests takes on new significance in the context of America’s electing its first black president. From a drugstore lunch counter to the highest office in the land, progress is truly marching on.

• Visit National Public Radio to hear and read more about the Greensboro Sit-In.
• Read more about the Greensboro Sit-In.
• View a timeline related to the sit-in.