On February 1st at 4:30 pm four students from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat down at a whites only lunch counter inside a Woolsworth's Department Store in Greensboro, North Carolina and requested to be served. Abiding by the store policy the establishment refused to service these men who later became known as the "Greensboro Four". .
Though this was not the first sit-ins to occur this was the beginning of list of events that changed everything. These four men remain seated until the store closed. These four very brave men were Ezell Blaire, Jr, David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. Word quickly spread of this event and the next day more than twenty African America students came to the store to join the sit-in. On the third day more than sixty people came to the store for the sit-in. On the fourth day there were over three hundred people taking part in the sit-in which now spread to other stores in Greensboro. These sit-ins eventually spread to other cities across the south such as Nashville Durham, Charlotte and Jackson among a few. Tensions increased and inevitable fights occurred, Despite a handful of fights that broke out these sit-ins were nonviolent and peaceful. .
Finally the students chose to boycott all stores that had segregated lunch counters. The earnings of these stores dropped by over 30%, causing these stores to end their policy on segregated lunch counters. By July of 1960, African Americans could sit with everybody else and no longer in their specified section. This eventually spread to other restaurants and eventually to swimming pools, parks, museums and other segregated places. .
In my opinion the Greensboro sit-ins were the starting line for the entire Civil Rights Movement. This was the flame that started the fire that burned strongly throughout the 1960's up until the Civil Rights Act was signed thereby giving African Americans the same rights as all other Americans.
