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.
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