It’s Black History Month!
Today – 50 years ago - marks the day 4 black boys from North Caroline A&T University did a peaceful sit-in in North Carolina. It made national news. In honor of Black History Month I will be sharing pivotal points blacks have made in this country. Enjoy and be sure to share your thought and comments. This is from http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art34899.asp
On February 1, 1960, four black college students had decided they’d had enough. Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain, college students at North Carolina’s Agricultural and Technical University, walked into Woolworth’s and sat down on those “whites only” stools. The simple, defiant act of sitting down made national news.
The four knew that they’d be refused service. They weren’t there to eat so much as they were to make a point. The manager of the Woolworth’s decided to have police come to the store, just in case there was a violent outbreak. Much to his surprise, there was not. The next day, another 23 black men and 4 black women showed up and sat down at the counter. By February 5, the peaceful protest saw 300 black students at Woolworth’s and Kress 5 & 10, half a block away1
By February 5, the four men who’d started the protest were able to see just how impactful their act of civil defiance had been. Across the southern states, other sit-ins and boycotts began—all in an effort to spur on civil rights. According to the Wikipedia article on this event, McCain is quoted with the following: “Some way through, an old white lady, who must have been 75 or 85, came over and put her hands on my shoulders and said, ‘Boys, I am so proud of you. You should have done this 10 years ago.”
The sit-ins gained national coverage and brought the civil rights movement to the forefront. On March 16, President Eisenhower recognized and supported the sit-ins and boycotts, officially, by saying he was “deeply sympathetic with efforts of any group to enjoy the rights…of equality that they are guaranteed by the Constitution.”3 With Presidential support and a growing number of sit-ins and boycotts, many cities in North Carolina and other states throughout the South began desegregation efforts. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, thus requiring desegregation of public facilities.
