Greensboro sit-ins

Greensboro sit-ins
Part of the Sit-in movement
in the Civil Rights Movement
The Greensboro Four: (left to right) David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell A. Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil. Photo by Jack Moebes. Jack Moebes Photo Archive.
DateFebruary 1 – July 25, 1960
(5 months, 3 weeks and 3 days)
Location
Caused by
Resulted in
Parties
Lead figures

Woolworth

KKK member

  • George Dorsett

The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store — now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum — in Greensboro, North Carolina,[1] which led to the F. W. Woolworth Company department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States.[2] While not the first sit-in of the civil rights movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, and also the best-known sit-ins of the civil rights movement. They are considered a catalyst to the subsequent sit-in movement, in which 70,000 people participated.[3][4] This sit-in was a contributing factor in the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).[5][6]

  1. ^ "The Greensboro Sit-In". History. January 25, 2022.
  2. ^ "Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In". Library of Congress.
  3. ^ Schlosser, Jim (January 27, 2005). "We'll see sit-in stamp first". News & Record.
  4. ^ "First Southern Sit-in, Greensboro NC". Civil Rights Movement Archive.
  5. ^ "SNCC". History.com. November 12, 2009.
  6. ^ "Greensboro 1960". History Learning Site.