Greensboro Sit-In Case Study

Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and David Richmond were all freshman at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. On February 1, 1960, around 4:30, these four young men went and sat at the lunch counter that was located inside the Woolworth store. They first went into the store and bought some toothpaste and other items from the desegregated counter with no problems. Then, they went to the segregated lunch counter, at the same store, and were refused service. The lunch counter staff refused service to the young men, per the store policy, and the manager asked the young to leave. The young men staid until the store closed. The following day, there were other students who were recruited from other campus groups
The third day more than 60 people came to Woolworth store. Woolworth national headquarters issued a statement saying that the company would “abide by local customs” and maintain its segregation police. For the forth day over 300 people were apart of the sit-in. In little less than a week after the Greensboro sit-in started they were spreading all over the southern cities. The majority of these sit-ins remained peaceful, but there were some cases that turned violent. One of the sit-ins that became violent was the one in Chattanooga, TN; here a fight broke out between the blacks and whites. While the sit-ins continued the students began to boycott stores that had segregated lunch counters. Because of the boycotting sales dropped. Then after approximately $200,000 lost because of the boycotts, the store manager of Woolworths in Greensboro asked three black employees to go change from their work clothes and into the street clothes and order a meal from the counter. This event did not receive much publicity. From this the whole Woolworth was now desegregated and serving both blacks and whites the same. Other cities continued to be segregated until around