Tim reports: The four boys, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond, were attacking the social order of the time. Society's rules required black people to stay out of white-owned restaurants and use only designated facilities. These four boys felt isolated and alone and were no longer going to stand for this treatment. Even though they had many other targets to choose from, city buses, jails or public facilities, they chose Woolworth's because they resented the Woolworth's double standard. Everywhere but in the South, blacks and whites sat together at Woolworth counters. In Greensboro, the counter segregated, and so was the staff behind the counter. Blacks could shop at Woolworth's general merchandise counters and eat at a stand-up snack bar and bakery counter; however, one section of the store was forbidden territory: the long L-shaped lunch counter which took up most of the first two walls.

In an interview with the owner, Harris, he stated that he knew the boys would not go away easily. Once in Woolworths, the boys split up in pairs and went to various counters to buy toothpaste and school supplies. The strategy was to ask why they could be served in other parts of the store but not at the lunch counter. McNeil went on to say:

. . .this is my country, I not only fought for it, I fought for the chance to make it right. No one's going to deny me the opportunity. I am going to be a full participant in every aspect of this community, as well as my kids.

James Farmer Former national director of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality, founded in 1942). Farmer and his organization provided encouragement and support for the sit-ins once they got under way, and the group was active in 1963, when A&T and Bennett students again demonstrated against segregation. Farmer, a strong believer in integration, once held a TV debate with Malcolm X, who favored black isolationism. Farmer has lost his sight and left leg because of diabetes, but he still travels the lecture circuit. He spoke at a Project Homestead banquet in Greensboro in 1996. Currently, he is a professor at Mary Washington College in Fredricksburg, Va. According to James Farmer, the significance of the sit-in were that they symbolized a change in the mood of African-American people. For a long time no one defied segregation, they just spoke out against it. The "sit-in" idea swept across the South like "proverbial wildfire," with students rejecting segregation and "they obstructed the wheels of injustice." This meant that segregation could be defeated.

The dedication [at the Smithsonian] took palce on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, but focused on the "larger than life leaders who won the day". The students did the work and made the movement happen. The account from 1995 compares with Farmer's account by showing that others joined the fight for freedom. They saw what the boys in Greensoro were doing and decided to make history themselves. The account compares to the account of the sit-in by saying that they did not choose to boycott buses or "separate but equal" facilities but that they chose the restaurant to make their statement. It also mentions about how other protests did not get much attention but theirs did, which they were very glad about. At the ceremony at the Smithsonian Joseph McNeil stated, "It was a good day for America." "Those stools represent symbols. We need symbols. Symbols last." Those stools are a reminder of everything they fought for and struggled against.

Rich provides much helpful detail as well as analysis: On February 1, 1960, the civil rights movement went from something that people talked about to something people did. Four freshmen from North Carolina A&T State University went to the Woolworth's in Greensboro with the intention of doing something that those before them had not done. Over the next six months, the students, with the help of others, protested (sat-in) until finally Woolworths and Kress 5+10 withdrew their policy of segragation in their businesses in Greensboro, N.C. with many more overturned restrictions to come.

For years the four students had witnessed the atrocities of segragation in their communities only to be further frustrated about the state of society in America, especially the South. The four frustrated freshmen -- Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond -- had been discussing their disgust for the social situation which they found themselves victimized by since the beginning of the semester. It took a direct biased action against Joe McNeil for the decision for action to be made. They no longer were going to be passive about their predicament, they were going to defy segragation. After visiting his parents in Wilmington, N.C. for Christmas, McNeil returned to Greensboro to resume his freshman year at N.C. A&T. Upon arriving at Union Station in downtown Greensboro (downtown -- a place blacks knew to avoid, if concerned with a possible confrontation) McNeil went to the diner looking for something to eat, only to be denied service (they wouldnt let him sit down or eat). Upon returning to Scott Hall (dorms where he and the other three lived), they engaged in another one of their gripe sessions. They railed on about the issue of segragation and were unhappy with how the previous generations had not acted in a manner in which would change any of the "laws" (not new to the concerns voiced). As McCain said, "I was getting tired of just talking about it."

They decided to look at various ways to show their "displeasure." Targets were all around them, including the buses and the jails which were obvious manifestations of segragation. The four settled on Woolworth's, a diner/convience store. Woolworths was the target because of its obvious double standards in terms of segragation. Across the country Woolworth stores "allowed" blacks and whites to sit at the counters and eat, except in the South. Black patrons could shop at Woolworth's genral merchandise counters and eat, but the eating was done at a stand-up snack bar and bakery counter. As for the employees of the Woolworth in Greensboro, the division of labor reflected that of the segragated South. The waitresses who were visible to the public were white, while those who fixed the food and did the cleaning were black.

The sit-in occurred at a time when Martin Luther King Jr. was making strides in the south with his passive attempts to desgeragate the south, the whole nation. While he focused on public institutions(busing, water fountains, etc...), the students went in the direction of the private sector. Previous to this point, the private sector had been "off limits" because it was considered to be an extention of a man's home, so this was not a place for people to infringe upon, at least not until now. The passive approach was geared (assumption on my part, I dont recall reading any exact quotes concerning this point) towards alleviating physical contact as a guarnatee, although McCain is quoted as saying he was more than accepting of the possibility of harm.

As with MLK Jr., the passive approach only further infuriates the masses, because you are not able to get under the skin of the "sitters," as a member of the masses. By not initiating the violence, you are able to justify to yourself your actions, especially in the case of the Greensboro four.

James Farmer, president of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), spoke about the actions of the Greensboro Four at a Project Homestead banquet in Greensboro. In his speech, he focused on what he deemed the importance or significance of the sit-in. As he says, up to this point the black community as a whole had disregarded Thoreau's basic principles in "Civil Disobedience." By accepting the hatred and the segragation, they were only hurting themselves. In the absence of defiance, they were only becoming more downtrodden. Yes, Farmer said, we had talked about the awful social conditions, but, because of the lack of action before February 1, 1960, the nonaction had conveyed acceptance not only to the majority but the minority as well (this is where the Four found most of their anger, in the fact that no one before them had taken a stance). By participating in a sit-in, there was an act of defiance, their major source of strength was in their refusal (a refusal to accept something unjust).

Once the "first-dayers" began the movement, it was only a matter of time before it spread like "wildfire" throughout the South and even into the North. The rejection of segragation by the students, said Farmer, allowed for a change in the mood of African American people (there was hope now, whereas previously there was a void).

In reading the article written by Lorraine Ahearn about the ceremony commemorating the civil disobedience you can compare the stories of the events courtesy of time elapsing. According to Franklin McCain's wife, Bettye, who was at Bennett College at the time of the sit-ins, there was a mixture of fear and exhilaration that the students felt as they listened to the announcer on the television in the lounge at school. The article goes on to discuss the ensuing days in terms of support that the sitters received. "In the next days, the students would be joined by A&T women, a number of white students frm the Women's College of the University of North Carolina-now UNCG-and black women from the Bennett campus."

In the accounts provided by the original four, they only saw two more fellow advocates of justice join them the second day of the protests. In the following days, though, more people did begin to turn out and the article does illuminate who stepped up and stuck it to the man during those trying first few months, allowing for the two stores to be desegragated. As one of the original four stated though, it was tough to tell who was involved, because of the size of the turnout once they got the ball rolling. In the article written by Ahearn it is stated that within a week, "students sat-in in Winston-Salem, Durham, Charlotte, and Raleigh." This gives one a picture of what James Farmer was speaking about when he said that the acts of defiance spread like wildfire throughout the South and continued to reach those who were in the North as well.

Val also supplies much helpful detail and analysis: Joseph McNeil said that he considered the Greensboro Sit-ins to be a "down-payment on manhood" and that "the secret of life is known when to take on something difficult and to take something on that might have enormous risks and implications." Ezell Blair Jr. said that he was "not afraid to go against the social order". The reason that these particular four chose to sit-in was also because of an incident that had happened to McNeil in January of 1960. He had been returning from a visit home for Christmas and was hungry, so he stopped at a restaurant but was not allowed to eat there. McNeil was enraged and gathered his roommate David Richmond as well as Franklin McCain and Blair (the four had been holding group gripe sessions about life in the South in the rooms of Scott Hall, where they went to college) and the next day the four sat-in at Woolworth's. They had chosen Woolworth's because it held to a double standard. Everywhere but in the South, blacks and whites could sit and eat together at the counters. On top of this, the staff was segregated in the South - the waitresses were white but the cook staff and cleaning staff were black. One section of the restaurant, the L-shaped lunch counter, was forbidden to the blacks - they had to eat at a stand-up bar and bakery counter. Until 1958, there had been signs posted designating "colored only" and "white only" sections of the restaurant. When the owner of the restaurant, Harris, removed these signs, he figured that the blacks would know their limits (Harris was asked by Dr. George Simkins, a leader of those fighting to desegregate municipal-owned facilities, to remove the signs).

The significance of the sit-ins, according to James Farmer of CORE, was that it was an attack on the social order of the time as well as on the unwritten rules of society. Blacks had to stay out of white-owned restaurants, use only "colored" designated water fountains and bathrooms, to sit in the back of Greensboro city buses, and had a separate balcony at the Center Theatre and segregated bleachers during sports events at the War Memorial Stadium. The Greensboro Four would not be harmed in their demonstration but would be recognized as heroes of the civil rights movement. The sit-ins symbolized a change in the mood of African-American people. Before, they had just accepted segregation - no one had defied segregation, they had only spoken against it in speeches. The Greensboro Sit-ins sparked a movement throughout the South as students rejected segregation. James Farmer said that "with their very bodies they obstructed the wheels of injustice". The sit-ins influence spread to the North, where people began boycotting variety stores and picketting in front of stores, and thus the curve of profits in stores such as Woolworth's went down. The sit-ins were important because it meant to black people that segregation could be beaten and that it had persisted only because, according to Farmer, "we allowed it to persist."

In this article about the installation of the lunch counter in the Smithsonian Institute, there is more talk about the students prespective on, and reactions to, the sit-ins. It is focused on the fact that the students did the work while spokesmen against segregation such as Martin Luther King just spoke. McCain's wife's perception of the moment when they heard the announcement on TV of the sit-ins (a mix of fear and exhilaration) is told. It tells about how students at the college where the Greensboro Four attended were joined by A&T women, white students at Woman's College of the University of North Carolina and black women at the Bennett campus to sit-in and of how they broke the highly proper and strict dress code and wore socks and tennis shoes. Students who went to the sit-ins were excused from class so that they might get some rest but went to class regardless to tell others of the sit-ins. The sit-ins then spread to other towns in the South and then to some cities in the North. This account gives the students' reactions and responses instead of the reactions of the authorities or of society and the world.

Sarah focuses upon the first couple of days and on the courage required to sit-in: The Greensboro Four were ordinary college freshmen who decided that something needed to be done. They made a plan to have a sit-in at the Woolworth's counter in Greensboro where they were not allowed to eat or even sit. They told no one of their plans and on Febuary 1, they walked to Woolworth's and sat down at the counter. At first they were simply ignored by everyone including staff members. The manager went to the police and he then decided to close the store early. The boys promised to return the following day. They had a lot of trouble that night convincing others of what had happened and very few showed up to help the next day. They were unharmed again the second day. These sit-ins went on for about five months. They acted at a time when protests were being made in public places like buses and schools but nothing was being done to challenge segregation in privately owned businesses, like Woolworth's. Plus they did not agree with the double standard set forth by Woolworth's. The Four knew that Woolworth's were only segregated in the South and not everywhere else. "A man's business was an extension of his home. It was his castle and he had the right of association." This was a big reason to stage a protest at a privately owned business that recieved a lot of money and patrons. This would hurt business in the eyes of the owner. These four college students did not go into this expecting great changes. They wondered at the outcome but they also never expected to come out of it unharmed. They feared beatings and jail but decided it was better than life the way it was at that time in the South.

Mike comments about the exhibit at the Smithsonian: I've been to the Museum of American History of the Smithsonian numerous times including a visit there last weekend while I was in Washington, DC. If you were to walk into the museum from main entrance from the mall and take your first left, there is the actual counter where the Greensboro sit-ins took place. Now that the big flag has been moved into a different part of the museum due to the restoration of it, the Greensboro counter is the first exhibit that visitors see. I think that having the Greensboro exhibit so close to the front of the museum shows the importance of the sit-ins in our nation's history. As with all Smithsonian exhibits, it is hard to believe that you can be standing only inches away from something that significantly affected our nation's history.