Sit ins: A student-led campaign that started in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960
Summary
Many young African Americans were frustrated by the slow progress of the Civil Rights movement. Sit-ins were a student-led campaign that applied non-violent protest on a huge scale right across the United States. On February 1st 1960, four African American students took seats at the section of the Greensboro North Carolina Woolworths lunch counter that was reserved fro white patrons. The following day, 30 students did the same thing at that lunch counter and the sit-ins continued each day. The concept of sit-ins as a form of protest quickly spread. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) trained young people for non-violent protest and 50,000 people were involved by April 1960. In some towns, segregation of lunch counters came to an end as a result of the sit-ins. Photos of white people pouring food on sit-in particupants, and harrassing them drew a lot of attention. However, in many Southern States, sit-ins had little lasting impact. |
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Where is Greensboro?
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