Greensboro Four

Greensboro sit-ins
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
The Greensboro Four: (left to right) David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil
Date	February 1 – July 25, 1960 (5 months, 3 weeks and 3 days)
Location	Greensboro, North Carolina
Causes	"Whites only" lunch counters at Woolworth Racial segregation in public accommodations
Result	Catalyst to sit-in movement that spread to more than 55 cities in 13 U.S. states within three months Formation of Student Executive Committee for Justice (SECJ) Greensboro businesses desegregate lunch counters Catalyst to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Parties to the civil conflict
Students from: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Bennett College for Women Dudley High School Womens College Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Business lunch counters at: Woolworth Kress Walgreens Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Lead figures
Students Joseph McNeil Franklin McCain Ezell Blair Jr. David Richmond Woolworth Clarence Harris KKK member George Dorsett

Students

Woolworth

KKK member

The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, which led to the Woolworth department store chain removing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. While not the first sit-in of the Civil Rights Movement, the Greensboro sit-ins were an instrumental action, and also the most well-known sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement. These sit-ins led to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in US history. The primary event took place at the Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth store, now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

While the Greensboro sit-in was the most influential and significant sit-in of the Civil Rights Movement, it was not the first. In August 1939, black attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker organized a sit-in at the then-segregated Alexandria, Virginia, library. In 1942, the Congress of Racial Equality sponsored sit-ins in Chicago, as they did in St. Louis in 1949 and Baltimore in 1952. A 1958 sit-in in Wichita, Kansas also was successful.

Days before the Woolworth sit-ins, the Greensboro Four (as they would soon be known) were debating on which way would be the best to get the media's attention. They were Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond. All were young black students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. They were inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. and his practice of non-violent protest, and wanted to change the segregational policies of Woolworth in Greensboro, North Carolina. The plan was simple, but effective: the four men would occupy seats at the local Woolworth, ask to be served, and when they were inevitably denied service, they would not leave. They would repeat this process day in and day out, for as long as it would take. Their thinking was that, if they could attract widespread attention to the issue, Woolworth would feel pressured to desegregate.