For many years the Black community were appalled with segregation. There was widespread segregation across the south from restaurants to swimming pools. The whole “separate but equal” mentality wasn’t working so people took it upon themselves to try and fix this problem.
It all started on a the 1st of February 1960 where four brave, young Black male students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College named Ezell Blair Jr. David Richmond, Joseph McNeill and Franklin McCain entered a lunch counter in a Woolworth’s department store in Greensboro North Carolina. The students sat at the counter awaiting service, but because of their skin colour they weren’t allowed to be served because the counters were for whites and whites only. The students patiently sat there until the store closed, not having been served caused an upset for the store as they were loosing business because the students were occupying white seats, this was called a “sit-in”.
The next day two of the original Greensboro four returned to Woolworths along with two other Black male students from College to continue the “sit-in”. This can be seen in source A. The source shows the young men sitting their patiently at an otherwise empty counter with no food or drink even though they had ordered coffee. The source shows that even though the person behind the counter was also black, the segregation was so tough in the south that not even he could serve them, because as mentioned previously the counters were for whites only.
The significance of the sit-in’s was that they sparked people to take an opportunity and use a peaceful and non-violent approach to desegregation. The simplicity of sit-in’s were that anyone could do it and within first week of the sit-ins at Greensboro there were hundreds of students participating, showing that it only took the simple actions of four people to make others challenge the issue of segregation. The sit-in’s also received media attention unlike other forms of protests. This media attention meant that more southerners were aware for the push for desegregation and the sit-ins spread, not only in North Carolina but all across the south. The sit-in’s affect chain stores which had branches in the north as they were starting to lose profits because of the sit-in’s in their southern counterparts. The reason that the initial protesters were all students was because they were the educated ones who knew how to make a difference in a segregated society.
There were a set of laws about segregation and discrimination called Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the South. The reasoning for the making of these laws are to keep African Americans and Caucasians “separate but equal”. Some prime examples of Jim Crow Laws are: “It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers”(n.d.). “It shall be unlawful for any white prisoner to be handcuffed or otherwise chained or tied to a negro prisoner”(n.d.). “No colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls”(n.d.).These may seem cruel and unusual and indeed they were. That was there intent. Fortunately, these laws have ceased and no longer remain thanks to the Civil Right
Moody’s “nonviolent” sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter may be her most famous act not just during the Movement, but possibly her life. The idea behind the sit-in was to request service at the segregated lunch counter of Woolworth’s. As the sit-in progressed, the white population became more aware of what was happening, and they started heckling and threatening Moody and her fellow activists. Nonviolence turned to violence when a white man rushed Memphis, one of the sit-in members. He was beaten up and arrested. Moody was dragged out by her hair, and her friend was taken from her seat by force. A few days after the sit-in, a group of Negro ministers went to the mayor with demands. The mayor ignored them. The nonviolent sit-in was supposed to be a message to the community and the country. Unfortunately, the sit-in, in the eyes of Anne Moody, was a failure because it had accomplished nothing. ...
On the date May 26, 1956, two female students from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, had taken a seat down in the whites only section of a segregated bus in the city of Tallahassee, Florida. When these women refused to move to the colored section at the very back of the bus, the driver had decided to pull over into a service station and call the police on them. Tallahassee police arrested them and charged them with the accusation of them placing themselves in a position to incite a riot. In the days after that immediately followed these arrests, students at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University organized a huge campus-wide boycott of all of the city buses. Their inspiring stand against segregation set an example and an intriguing idea that had spread to tons of Tallahassee citizens who were thinking the same things and brought a change of these segregating ways into action. Soon, news of the this boycott spread throughout the whole entire community rapidly. Reverend C.K. Steele composed the formation of an organization known as the Inter-Civic Council (ICC) to manage the logic and other events happening behind the boycott. C.K. Steele and the other leaders created the ICC because of the unfounded negative publicity surrounding the National Associat...
Even though slaves had been free for almost sixty years, it was still hard to find well paying jobs in other areas nationwide. The lives of African Americans were so well established, the area was coined the “Black Wall Street of America”. You’d think with such well-rounded men and women that something like this would not happen just based on their skin tone, but that is far from true. Whites of the time were still extremely prejudice towards African Americans, despite the reputation they had. It was only a matter of time before something ignited the flame that had been burning for years.
Sit-ins were a form of peaceful protest where a person, in this case an African American or a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, would sit in a restaurant that was known to deny service to African Americans and would refuse to give up the seat until served by the establishment. In effect, this would force the establishment to either integrate their establishment or call the police. If the latter was done, it was usually publicized. The media is of great importance because it forces the public to see what is going on. It also encouraged other cities to follow suit and perform them in their locales. The movement also spread to other sectors like housing and retail.
The legality of racial segregation was the result of a deeply flawed belief held by the majority of Americans that blacks were inherently inferior and would never be treated the same as whites. African Americans had been regarded as property for centuries prior to the Civil Rights Movement, and that mindset had to be changed for the creation of new laws or abolition of old laws to have any ...
For example, on February 1, 1960, four African Americans from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College staged a peaceful protest to desegregate Woolworth’s Lunch Counter, who served to only white people (“Greensboro Sit-In,” History.com”). This spread through the whole nation. In 55 cities, people were protesting the segregation of stores, libraries, and more, (“Greensboro Sit-In,” History.com”). This event is very similar to the Montgomery Bus Boycott because they both show people peacefully and politely fighting for equality. The Greensboro Sit-In also ended in a triumph. During the summer of the 1960s, many diners, including Woolworths, were becoming integrated throughout the south because of Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil for sitting at a whites-only counter and asking for a cup of
During the first half of the twentieth century segregation was the way of life in the south. It was an excepted, and even though it was morally wrong, it still went on as if there was nothing wrong at all. African-Americans were treated as if they were a somehow sub-human, they were treated because of the color of their skin that somehow, someway they were different.
On February 1st, 1960, four African American college students from North Carolina A+T College, an all black college, went to be served at Woolworth’s restaurant. The restaurant was open to all customers, but only served whites at th...
On February 1, 1960, 4 black students were wanting lunch. The boys had been refused service so they occupied the seats so the business couldn’t make money. T...
Blacks have long endured the brutality of criticism because of their skin color. The Freedom Riders took on abuse, and a burning bus, to test the Court’s ruling for equal transportation. Non-violent sit-ins were another step towards getting Blacks equal rights. Four African American college students walked up to a Whites-only lunch counter and asked to be served. When the service was refused, the students sat quietly. When the threats came, by the Whites, the students sat quietly and waited to be served. More than often the participants would be threatened by local customers. Sometimes, they would be pelted with food, and when an attack became physical, the student would curl up into a ball and take the punishment. “When the local police came to arrest
Success was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. Starting with the year 1954, there were some major victories in favor of African Americans. In 1954, the landmark trial Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas ruled that segregation in public education was unfair. This unanimous Supreme Court decision overturned the prior Plessy vs. Ferguson case during which the “separate but equal” doctrine was created and abused. One year later, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. launched a bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama after Ms. Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat in the “colored section”. This boycott, which lasted more than a year, led to the desegregation of buses in 1956. Group efforts greatly contributed to the success of the movement. This is not only shown by the successful nature of the bus boycott, but it is shown through the success of Martin Luther King’s SCLC or Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The conference was notable for peacefully protesting, nonviolence, and civil disobedience. Thanks to the SCLC, sit-ins and boycotts became popular during this time, adding to the movement’s accomplishments. The effective nature of the sit-in was shown during 1960 when a group of four black college students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in hopes of being served. While they were not served the first time they commenced their sit-in, they were not forced to leave the establishment; their lack of response to the heckling...
"Greensboro Sit-In and the Sit-In Movement." History. A&E Television Networks, LLC. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. .
One of the first documented incidents of the sit-ins for the civil rights movement was on February 1, 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee. Four college African-Americans sat at a lunch counter and refused to leave. During this time, blacks were not allowed to sit at certain lunch counters that were reserved for white people. These black students sat at a white lunch counter and refused to leave. This sit-in was a direct challenge to southern tradition. Trained in non-violence, the students refused to fight back and later were arrested by Nashville police. The students were drawn to activist Jim Lossen and his workshops of non-violence. The non-violent workshops were training on how to practice non-violent protests. John Lewis, Angela Butler, and Diane Nash led students to the first lunch counter sit-in. Diane Nash said, "We were scared to death because we didn't know what was going to happen." For two weeks there were no incidences with violence. This all changed on February 27, 1960, when white people started to beat the students. Nashville police did nothing to protect the black students. The students remained true to their training in non-violence and refused to fight back. When the police vans arrived, more than eighty demonstrators were arrested and summarily charged for disorderly conduct. The demonstrators knew they would be arrested. So, they planned that as soon as the first wave of demonstrators was arrested, a second wave of demonstrators would take their place. If and when the second wave of demonstrators were arrested and removed, a third would take their place. The students planned for multiple waves of demonstrators.
Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s. This movement started in centuries-long attempts by African slaves to resist slavery. After the Civil War American slaves were given basic civil rights. However, even though these rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment they were not federally enforced. The struggle these African-Americans faced to have their rights ...