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North Carolina Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Civil Rights Sit-Ins
(click
here to view video)
February is Black History Month in the United States. It pays
tribute to people and events that shaped the history of African
Americans. A pivotal moment happened 50 years ago when four Black
university students in North Carolina sat down at a whites-only lunch
counter to get something to eat. They were denied service, but their
actions re-ignited the U.S. civil rights movement and the struggle by
millions of African Americans to achieve racial equality and justice.
Hundreds of people gathered at a former Woolworth department store to
pay tribute to what happened here 50 years ago. Inspired by civil rights
leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., four Black college students walked
into a Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1st,
1960. They sat down at the "whites only" lunch counter but were denied
service because of their skin color.
"In our hearts we all thought that racial segregation was evil," said
participant Joseph McNeil.
Joseph McNeil was just 17 years old when he and his friends refused to
leave the segregated counter. At the time, they could have been arrested
for breaking so called "Jim Crow" laws that were enacted to keep Blacks
and whites separated at public places such as theaters, hotels and
restaurants.
 "If
we had to be arrested for a week or one day or two months or three
months we felt what we were trying to do was worth it to make that
statement and to defy racial segregation," he added.
Franklin McCain says he was driven to participate in the sit-ins because
of the discrimination that surrounded him.
"I was quite ready to do something to seek relief, a spot of dignity,
humanity and my manhood," said McCain. "And fortunately I met three
other guys who felt the same way."
Jibreel Khazan from Greensboro remembers what the white waitress told
them.
"'What do you boys want?' And we said we would like to be served very
politely. And she said. 'You know we don't serve colored people here,
there is a lunch counter over there, a stand up counter.' And we said
thank you ma'am we'd rather sit here," recalled Khazan.
Days later and tired of the discriminatory practices, more Blacks and
even some white people got involved in the sit-in movement. Joseph
McNeil says that at one point more than 500 students jammed the lunch
counters at Woolworth and other stores with segregated lunch counters.
"We were doing what needed to be done," said McNeil. "Not just that, but
keeping up the commitment of coming back day after day as we promised
the stores what we would do if they didn't open the [lunch] counters to
everyone."(click
here to view video)
Longtime civil rights activist Julian Bond says the Greensboro sit-ins
changed the course of the civil rights movement during the 1960's.
"It injected a degree of activism in the civil rights movement which
until then had been largely confined to activism in the courts,"
explained Bond. "All of a sudden, activism in the streets became part of
the arena, part of the weaponry that the movement used and that just
changed everything."
In July 1960, and after $200,000 in lost business, Woolworth agreed to
integrate its store allowing Blacks to be served at the lunch counter.
Historian Lonnie Bunch says the Greensboro campaign was not the first,
but it did capture national media attention and spark hundreds of
similar non-violent protests across the country.
"So celebrating the Greensboro sit-in really tells us we are celebrating
the sit-ins that occurred in other parts of the south and other cities
throughout the north," noted Bunch.
Jebreel Khazan says he's honored to have a place in history but gives
credit to the wisdom of his ancestors.
"We just happened to be blessed to be the four that did this and it
caught fire throughout the country but all things are possible if we
only believe and that was what I was taught," he said.
On the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins, a new chapter in the
history of the civil rights movement has begun with a new international
civil rights museum. Community leaders want it to be a lasting tribute
to the sacrifices so many African Americans made for equality and social
justice.
Reprinted with permission of
Voice of America®:A Trusted Source of News &
Information since 1942
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