EOTO #3

The civil rights protest of 1960 began when young African American students organized a sit in at a segregated diner called woolworths. They were all students of A&T college, just down the road. They were motivated by non-violent protests that they had seen in the past. The policy of the diner was to deny all customers unless they were white. When the four boys walked up to the counter they were immediately denied service, but they insisted on staying there and not giving up their seats. The police showed up to the scene but couldn’t and wouldn’t do anything about it. This sit-in became known to the media very quickly and it was even covered on the television. The four boys stayed until the diner closed that night and showed up with even more people from local colleges the next day. 

As the Greensboro sit-in became more known around the country, there started to be a lot more all around the nation. They spread to beaches, libraries, hotels, and many other establishments. The sit-ins became very popular in a lot of college towns where black and white people would come together for these peaceful protests. By the end of March 1960, these peaceful protests had spread to 55 cities in 13 different states. Sadly, a lot of these protestors were arrested for trespassing, disturbing peace, or disorderly conduct. 

These sit-ins were very monumental in civil rights history and in response to the spread and success of these sit-ins, a ton of dining facilities became integrated by the summer of 1960. At the end of July, when the students were on summer break, Woolworths diner in Greensboro became integrated. Woolworths had 4 black employees and these were the first people to be served after becoming integrated. 

EOTO Mock Trial #2

 In the year 1896, a major event was the Plessy V Ferguson court case but nobody really talks about what life was like for the people living through these historic times. I am mainly focusing on what schools were like during this time. Blacks and whites were separated by law for basically everything: transportation, public accommodations, churches, recreational facilities, cemeteries, and schools. Before the civil war ended, the education of slaves was a crime. When education for black people finally became legal, schools were very poorly funded and overall ignored. Children were put in very harsh conditions to simply receive the bare minimum education.

As you can see in the photo above, these schools were extremely crowded and lacked the right amount of teachers for the amount of kids attending these schools. These children were lacking the basic school supplies and materials that assist children in being as successful as possible. These schools lacking the proper and fair amount of funding really affected the quality of education that these children were receiving. These children had to work especially hard in these already tough conditions to be able to succeed. Because of the amount of students and the lack of teachers, the kids were not able to receive the necessary one on one time with a teacher, making it more difficult. The Plessy V Ferguson court case outcome was that segregation was legal and this includes schools. This ruling did not help these under-educated children to receive the proper education. It was not until 1954 when the Supreme Court finally made public schooling open to all races.