Sitting For Change
Intro
What impact did the Greensboro sit-ins have on the Civil Rights Movement? The 4 men who were soon to be known, started these protests to try to stop segregation of lunch counters. These 4 men formed groups of protesters and went to stop this unfair segregation.Nevertheless, The Greensboro sit-ins brought awareness and impacted the Civil Rights Movement.
Background
Indeed, The Greensboro sit-ins were taken place in Greensboro, North Carolina. Even though these were not the first sit-ins to happen in the Civil Rights Movement, these sit-ins were an important action for the Civil Rights Movement and also were the most well-known sit-ins of the movement. The sit-ins lasted from February 1 to July 25, 1960, which …show more content…
Before they went on with there plan, the four had purchased toothpaste and other products from a desegregated counter at the store with no problem, but then were refused service at the Woolworth’s lunch counter when they tried to order a simple cup of coffee. The staff followed store policies and refused to serve the black men at the “whites only”counter and store manager Clarence Harris asked them to leave. The four freshmen stayed until the store closed that night. The Next day, more than 20 black students, recruited from other campus groups as well as students from Bennett College, a college for black women, also joined. White customers heckled and harassed the black students while the lunch counter staff still refused service, but the students still protest non-violently (“Greensboro Sit-ins”/Wikipedia.com). Black students would just read books or studied to keep busy at the counters.The second day of the sit-ins, many newspaper reporters and TV filmers covered the event and other people in the community learned of the protests, as young blacks and whites joined in various forms of peaceful protests against segregation in libraries, beaches hotels and other establishments (“Greensboro Sit-ins”/History.com). In fact, on the third day, more than 60 more people joined in and came to the Woolworth store and on the third day, …show more content…
For example, these sit-ins received powerful media and government attention. When the Woolworth sit-ins began, the Greensboro newspaper posted on their daily papers the growth and impact of the demonstrations. The sit-ins made headlines in other cities as well, as the demonstrations spread throughout the Southern states. In many towns, the sit-ins were successful in gaining the desegregation of lunch counters that they wanted as well as other places. The media picked up this issue and covered it nationwide, beginning with lunch counters and spreading to other forms of public accommodation, including transport facilities, art galleries, beaches, parks, swimming pools, libraries, and even museums around the south. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated desegregation in public accommodations, but at the place where it all started, the local Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Monday 25, 1960, after nearly $200,000 in losses ($1.7 million today), store manage Clarence Harris asked his three colored employees to take off their work uniforms and sit at the lunch counter and order a meal. They were, quietly, the first to be served at a Woolworth lunch counter. Most stores did desegregate soon enough, but in other Tennessee cities, such as Nashville and Jackson, Woolworth’s continued to be segregated until around 1965, despite many protests (“Greensboro