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
to come and join in on the sit-in. While sitting there customers were mocking the black students. While they were sitting there the students were studying and reading books. While sitting there the staff continued to refuse service. For the second day TV and Newspaper reporters were there to cover the demonstration.
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
1965. The four young men that were involved in this situation had to be experiencing frustration. All they wanted was to be treated the same as whites. It was probably hard for them to get mocked every day and not get anywhere with what they were doing. They were willing to make any sacrifices that they had to so that they could change the way that society was during this time. The young men felt that it was important for each person to have equal opportunities. The people who were in the store and eating at the lunch counter were all probably very uncomfortable with everything that was going on during the sit-ins. During this time of the sit-ins everything was segregated and that is how it had always been. Whites did not want the blacks to be sitting at the counter. Some of the time they would throw food at them and call the blacks names. Most of the people felt that the blacks did not have the same rights that they had. Some even thought that blacks enjoyed being second-class citizens. From this movement this was proven to be false. With all of the sit-ins there was a lot of impact that came along. All of the sit-ins received a lot of media attention. With the Greensboro sit-ins the local newspaper would publish daily updates on how the sit-in was growing and that impact that the demonstration had on the community. Another impact that the sit-ins had was the closure of the lunch counters. By closing the counters the businesses were not making as much money. For some of the cities the sit-ins lasted a lot longer than a few months. The sit-ins were a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. There are different pieces from the sit-ins that are now part of both the Smithsonian and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.