News spread quickly to high point, about 16 miles away. Sitins and freedom rides civil rights movement library. Progress toward school desegregation was painfully slow, but schools were not the only battle front in the civil rights movement in north carolina. Book on sitins is a most compelling read freedom forum institute. The greensboro sit ins marked the beginning of the studentled phase of the civil rights movement.
The students who launched the sit ins explicitly defined their protest as an alternative to litigationbased reform tactics. This book tells the story of what happened in greensboro. New york times sit in stories, claude sitton, bernard stengren. The civil rights movement was a time in american history when africanamericans fought for equality. How four friends stood up by sitting down jane addams. The launching of the greensboro studentled sit ins in 1960 represented a new phase in the social upheavals associated with the civil rights movement. What was the significance of the greensboro sitin to the.
How four friends stood up by sitting down zinn education. Tim jones the city is a large wholesale distribution point, an agricultural market, and an important insurance centre. The start of it all on monday, february 1st, 1960, the woolworth store would no longer just be a store anymore. The greensboro sit ins of february 1960 launched the movement to integrate lunch counters and other eating establishments throughout north carolina and the rest of the south. The substantive essays in this collection not only delineate the role of the student. By 1960, the civil rights movement had gained strong momentum. The greensboro sitin protests, explained teen vogue. Civil rights greensboro provides access to archival resources documenting the modern civil rights era in greensboro, north carolina, from the 1940s to the early 1980s during this formative period, greensboro was an epicenter of activity, continuing a tradition that traces its roots back to the 19th century when members of the areas large quaker population provided stops on the underground railr. College question one civil rights movement was a social movement aimed at struggling for the political and civil improvement of thelives of black americans. The greensboro sit ins were a number of nonviolent acts of civil disobedience that took place in 1960 in the city of greensboro, north carolina, with the intention of challenging the racial segregation in the southern united states. By the end of the summer in 1961, over 70,000 had attended sit ins. Franklin mccain, who helped inspire sitins for civil rights. The movement spreads the greensboro sitin ignited a wave of student sitins across the south. When four courageous black teens sat down at a lunch counter in the segregated south of 1960, the reverberations were felt both far beyond and close to home.
The greensboro sitins from the worlds largest community of readers. This article describes, in detail, the first greensboro sit in and shows how it sparked the beginning of other events in the civil rights movement. That day the woolworth store in greensboro, north carolina would be known as the very first sit in. Designed for secondary school and college student research, the civil rights movement is a onestop guide that includes clear analysis and ready reference components. Child of the civil rights movement junior library guild selection. The first sit in demonstration of the civil rights movement was staged at a lunch counter in greensboro in 1960. In a few days, mary lou andrews, a 15yearold student at the allblack william penn high school, began meeting with friends to stage a sitin at high point as well.
Greensboro sit ins learn more about the sit ins at this comprehensive site, which includes biographies, articles, audio clips and other resources. Buoyed by the victories in other cities, the lane students quietly sat for three hours that day, reading books. More books and resources on related social movements and the long history of struggles for civil rights in the u. A lively, moving, and smart picture book detailing the sitins that occurred in the 1960s as part of the civil rights movement. Known as the committee on appeal for human rights coahr, the group initiated the atlanta student movement and began to lead sit ins starting on march 15, 1960.
The primary event took place at the greensboro, north carolina woolworths store, now the international civil rights center and museum. At first, the demonstrations were categorized as yet another college fad or aimless defiance. In the outset, the article also puts the story of the greensboro sit ins into a modern day perspective which makes the event more relatable and easier to understand. Integration efforts in the workplace, sit ins, and other nonviolent protests. With the sit ins, which continued on and off for more than a year after the kress episode, charleston was no longer a city on the margins of the civil rights movement. The greensboro sit in on february 1st is the spark that ignites a raging prairie fire, a fire for justice that the forces of the old order cannot suppress. On 1 february 1960, a group of four college students began a sitin at a woolworths in downtown greensboro, north carolina. While not the first sitin of the civil rights movement, the greensboro sitins were an instrumental action, and also the most wellknown sitins of the civil rights movement. A chronological listing of the cities in which demonstrations have occurred, february 1 march 31, 1960, authors unknown notes. Influenced dozens of other sit in campaigns throughout the south, most notably in nashville, tn see nashville students sit in for u.
In this lesson, learn about how sit ins around the country were a way that africanamericans. Heavy television coverage of the greensboro sit ins sparked a sit in movement that spread quickly to college towns throughout the south and into the north, as young blacks and whites joined in. This picture book is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous woolworths. Sit ins had previously occurred in other places, but the greensboro protests sparked widespread activism and media attention. Young people in more than 100 southern cities challenged segregation in restaurants, parks, pools, theaters, libraries, etc. The greensboro sitins of 1960 provoked all manner of emotions when they occurred and they remain an important part of civil rights history. The history of the greensboro lunch counter sitin at the.
A detailed account of the sitin at a woolworths lunch counter in greensboro, north carolina, in 1960, which ignited the civil rights movement in the united states. The greensboro sitin was a major civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young africanamerican students staged a sitin at a. The greensboro sitins weatherford, carole boston, lagarrigue, jerome lagarrigue on. Civil rights movements and the greensboro sitins 789 words. By february 5, the number of active participants in the greensboro sit in movement swelled to more than three hundred. How the civil rights movement affected greensboro nc.
Their passive resistance towards the jim crow laws soon attracted other young people to the civil rights movement. Civil rights movement documents from the sitin movement. Nov 22, 20 the lunch counter sit in movement of 1960 was a contest not only over nondiscriminatory access to public accommodations, but also over the role of the courts in the developing civil rights movement. The greensboro sitin provided a template for nonviolent resistance and marked an early success for the civil rights movement. The sitins at a woolworths lunch counter in greensboro launched the passive resistance phase of the civil rights revolution. Greensboro north carolina, united states britannica. The greensboro sit in is remembered as one of the most important protests of the 1960s, but why. Greensboro sit ins sit ins sweep across the south 19601964 photos. Lunch counter sit ins had already gained widespread national attention when black students and others did the same thing in greensboro, n. The greensboro sit ins played a major role in the civil rights movements.
The student civil rights movement in the 1960s morgan, iwan, davies, philip on. Their protest, while not the first sitin of the modern civil rights movement, triggered a wave of direct action. They are considered a catalyst to the subsequent sitin movement, in which 70,000 people participated. Future movement leader julian bond often said that, the civil rights movement for me began on february 4, 1960. Influenced by previous sit ins oklahoma city, durham, chicago, and st louis see st. Over the following weeks and months, sit ins would spread all across north carolina and into other states. Sit in documents an appeal for human rights, atlanta students. Integration of the workplace was, for example, another significant focus of the movement. Mccain and two other men sit at the counter, staring back at the lens. Louis core campaign for lunch counter desegregation, 194852 1. In this lesson, well see how this simple protest helped redefine civil rights. Although blair, mccain, mcneil, and richmond were not the first organized group to employ the tactic of a sit in, their efforts proved to be a watershed event in the civil rights movement. This photographic portrait depicts clarence curly harris, who was manager of the greensboro woolworth store at the time of the 1960 lunch counter sit ins.
Though general histories of the civil rights movement cover the southern sitins and freedom rides of 196061, this case study adds sometimes harrowing detail while highlighting the courage of the more than 70,000 nonviolent activists who participated in them. Chronology of student sit ins and freedom rides, 19601961, howard zinn core reprint. The sitins october 1960 civil rights a jackson sun. For more information on the greensboro civil rights movement. Mcneil, to their left, is in profile, gazing off into the distance. The students bravery in the face of verbal and physical abuse led to integration in many stores even before the passage of the civil rights act of 1964. The photograph was taken march 1, 1955 at manning studio in greensboro, most likely by. Store late this morning starting what they declared would be a growing movement. Combining narrative description, analytical essays, chronology, biographical profiles, and the text of key primary documents, this work fills a gap in the existing lite. While not the first sit ins of the africanamerican civil rights movement, the greensboro sit ins were an instrumental action, leading to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in us history. John lewiss long career in activism, which began during the civil rights movement. The importance of this movement to the community in america is that it attempted to unite all the races. By the end of 1960, the process of sit ins had spread to every southern and border state, and even to facilities in nevada, illinois, and ohio that discriminated against blacks. The man on the other side of the lunch counter the new.
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