Urban Word of the Day - 2/26/09

Greensboro Sit-Ins –
The Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, leading to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in American history. In this city, on February 1st, 1960, four African American college students from North Carolina A&T College (a historically black college) went to Woolworth’s, an all-white restaurant. The shop was open to all customers regardless of color, but the restaurant was for whites only. They asked for food, were refused service and asked to leave. The students did prior research on what they were doing - reading a handout on tactics of resistance by Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). The sit-in that had begun with only four students had sparked a massive movement throughout the Southern states as more and more protesters engaged in this type of demonstration. This protest sparked sit-ins and economic boycotts that became a hallmark of the American civil rights movement.