Background:
On February 1, 1960, four black students from North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North
Carolina walked into a Woolworth’s store and quietly
sat down at the lunch counter. This seemingly mundane
everyday act sent shock waves through Greensboro, through
North Carolina, and through the nation. The counter behind
which these four young men sat was for whites only.
This simple act was like a stone thrown into a still
pond. It sent out ripples across the nation that stirred
people to take notice and to act. As the news of lunch-counter
sit-ins spread, it opened eyes, inspired more to join
the protests, and agitated some Americans into violence.
Most importantly, it forced communities throughout the
United States to confront segregation right where they
sat down for a cup of coffee or tuna fish sandwich.
The sit-ins were a part of the nonviolent direct action
strategy espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In
1955, nonviolent direct action had been successfully
used in the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycotts. Led by
Dr. King and Rosa Parks, the black citizens of Montgomery
had desegregated the city’s public buses. In the
early 1960s, black college students throughout the South
would put this strategy into action in an attempt to
desegregate lunch counters.
Essential Question:
What is nonviolent direct action? How and why was it
used in the fight for civil rights and against segregation?
Should the civil rights workers be considered American
heroes?
Materials:
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