February 1960
Events
- February 1, 1960Greensboro Sit-Ins Launch Nationwide Student Protest Movement
On February 1, 1960, four Black freshmen from North Carolina A&T, Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond, sit at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro and ask to be served. When refused, they remain until closing. The next day 30 students join them; by the third day 60; by the fourth day 300. The sit-in spreads to 54 cities in nine states within two months. The students are spat upon, burned with cigarettes, and harassed. Their nonviolent discipline inspires a generation. By July, Woolworth's desegregates.
- February 1, 1960Greensboro Sit-Ins Begin
Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond, four Black students from North Carolina A&T, sat at the whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. Refused service, they remained until closing. The protest sparked sit-ins across the South within weeks.
- February 1, 1960The Greensboro sit-ins
Four students' lunch-counter protest sparks a wave of sit-ins across the South.