What was the price of a cup of coffee in the South in 1960? For some African Americans, it was intimidation, violence, and even death. But on a Monday afternoon on February 1, 1960, four black college students attending North Carolina A and T State University defied the segregationist policies at the Greensboro, North Carolina F.W. Woolworth lunch counter and made history. Their courage and humanity contributed to the sit-in movement that involved 70,000 people over the next year.
The Face of Segregation in the American South
The sit-in movement was non-violent protest. The students were told, “We don’t serve colored here.” Ezell A. Blair, Jr., Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond refused to leave. Within a week, the four were joined by four hundred, both black and white, and their protest became a nationwide story. This was the story of “Whites’ only” water fountains and restaurants that refused to serve African Americans. At Southern state capitals whites with placards proclaimed “Race Mixing is Communism.”
By the time A & T students sat down at the Woolworth lunch counter, Rosa Parks had refused to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama (1955) and Alabama Governor George Wallace stood at the door of the University of Alabama refusing to admit black students. In Prince Edward County, Virginia, all public schools were closed.
- Drop Out Rates College
- Mayo College Of Medicine
- Otorohanga College Fire
- Gogte Engineering College
- Get Grants For College
Finding a way to pay for college is a major concern for those looking to begin a first career, or transition into a more pleasing one. Increasing fees and tuition ...