Greensboro Sit-ins Begin (1960)
Mon Feb 01, 1960
Image: Sitting from left: Joseph McNeil, Billy Smith and Clarence Henderson on second day of sit-ins, Woolworth, Greensboro, February 2nd, 1960 [blackpast.org]
On this day in 1960, the "Greensboro Four" sat down at F. W. Woolworth Company Store's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina to protest segregation.
The four men had purchased toothpaste and other products from a desegregated counter at the store with no problems, but were then refused service at the store's lunch counter when they each asked for a cup of coffee.
The four students returned the next day, and within a few days the protest included hundreds of students. The Greensboro Sit-in sparked a movement of sit-in protests against segregation across the country, continuing into the summer and expanding to other places of discrimination, such as swimming pools, parks, and art galleries.
On July 25th, after months of harassment, including a bomb threat, and nearly $200,000 in losses ($1.7 million in 2020 dollars) the Greensboro Woolworth's finally ended its discriminatory policies. Four years later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandated desegregation in public accommodations.
- Date: 1960-02-01
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.blackpast.org.
- Tags: #CivilRights, #Protests.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org
Way back when, I had a schoolmate whose uncle was part of that. Not the original guys, but the later protests. She was justifiably proud to be related to him.
Can you imagine being part of something like that? Not knowing it's going to work, but knowing it's going to be hell anyway. From what I was told, he had just had enough of the bullshit and when word got passed around, he just knew he had to be there, to do something.
If that ain't proof that when enough people take action, that change is actually possible, nothing is.
You don't have to imagine: DJT and his regime are giving you an opportunity to do exactly that right now.
Peaceful protest and economic withdrawal is what fueled the civil rights movement and made it so powerful, and the same thing will bring down Trumpism if people care to apply the same recipes to today's fascist problem.