Having a Seat With History

On February 1, 1960, Franklin McCain and three fellow freshmen from North Carolina A&T State University sat down at the white’s-only lunch counter at the Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro, NC, and asked to be served. They were denied service and thus started one of the most historic sit-ins of the Civil Rights era.

The Greensboro Four, as they became known, returned over the next several days to the counter and asked to be served. Each day they were denied service. And each day the number of African American students accompanying the Greensboro Four at the sit-in grew, to nearly 300 by weeks end, and led to other sit-ins at whites-only lunch counters across North Carolina and throughout the south.

Today, the Woolworth’s building in downtown Greensboro, which closed in 1994, is being turned into the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. Part of the original lunch counter remains intact. A section of it also resides in the Smithsonian.

On February 1, 2010, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum is scheduled to open, which just so happens to be the 50th anniversary of the historic sit-in.