Desegregation In Schools Essay

The Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In was a civil rights event that occurred in 1960. Young African-American college students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. They refused to leave the diner after being denied service. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. Many protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct, or disturbing the peace. The actions of a few made an immediate and long lasting impact which forced Woolworth’s and other businesses to change policies of segregation.

In the first presentation, I noticed an event called the Greensboro Sit-ins. This was a single event that sparked a nationwide movement and flood of support for the civil rights movement and the issue of business owners withholding service from those who were not white. On February 1st, 1960, 4 students of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at a whites-only lunch table, requested service, and were then denied and asked to leave. When they left, they went to tell campus leaders what had happened and as a result gained people that wanted to participate in the sit-in. It is said that “the next morning twenty-nine neatly dressed male and female [NCATSU] students sat at the Woolworth’s lunch counter,” the same counter where those first four students sat (NorthCarolinaHistory.org). After this happened, protests occurred each week and hundreds of students were showing up at Woolworth’s. Following this, more and more students from around the US were staging sit ins at segregated lunch counters as a form of non-violent protest against discrimination.

Sit-ins were very important in the 1960’s they were against segregated businesses and lunch counters.

With school boards avoiding integration once again, Greensboro civil rights activists were becoming anxious to desegregate public facilities in order to be successful unlike public schools. Dr. George Simkins pushed for the desegregation of all public facilities in Greensboro, and he even succeeded in doing so for golf courses. Four black students were inspired and tired of the racial inequality they had grown up in, so they arranged a non-violent protest by simply sitting in Woolworth’s Diner and demanding service. The protest tactic grew in numbers as more students, both male and female, endorsed the movement. In response, young white males began participating by verbally and physically assaulting some of the demonstrators, and government officials wanted store managers to arrange for the arrest of protestors before the situation got too unruly. Blacks boycotted the purchase of goods until they were served like their white counterparts, but the protests scared away the white consumers causing the stores and diners’ sales to drop. Diners and department stores worked in accordance to agree on a procedure to desegregate lunch counters. Select department stores refused to desegregate entire facilities, and most people believed that they did not have to because they had already compromised. Certain businesses did not want to segregate and

In Fredericksburg in 1960 there was a protest because they still weren't letting African-Americans eat at a restaurant. Here's the story behind this. There were eight students that walked into Woodworths at 1 p.m. They took their seats as quietly as they can and started reading books but did not order. The staff suddenly put up signs saying “This Section is Closed off”. Like what the heck is wrong with those people. They can’t they just let them be peaceful and let them read their books maybe they would’ve ordered if they gave them time. The students went to each store and rotated a lot and as soon as they leave the workers reopened the counters to the whites. Like what is wrong with the blacks? The police took a look at the incident

Not only did the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins happen, but many other major protesting events happened too such as: Little Rock 9, Freedom Rides, Emmett Till’s murder, The Montgomery Bus Boycott, and many more (Greensboro Sit-Ins). When the sit-ins took place, the 4 black men sat at an all-white lunch counter and asked for coffee. They were told that they could not be served and that they had to leave the whites-only section. As the protests continued, the whites got more violent towards the four men. This pushed the blacks even more so to end racial inequality (Melanie Lacey). This went on for 5 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days. They were determined to end racial inequality and wanted all races to be treated equally (Greensboro

Sit-ins were a way of protest during the Civil Rights Movement. It started on February 1, 1960 when a group of college students in Greensboro, North Carolina went into Woolworth’s and sat at the “white’s only” counter. The group was threatened, even though they were sitting peacefully and not disturbing anyone. The group of college students created the civil rights sit-in.

Word quickly spread to other universities, cities, and towns across the state and the nation. Over the next two months, similar sit-ins were staged in 54 cities in nine different states. On July 24, 1960, Woolworth's lunch counters were finally integrated. Eventually, the Greensboro Sit-ins would influence public buildings across the South to become integrated.2

The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) used a form of protest by union workers called sit-ins. After it was successful with CORE 4 African Americans Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair, Jr, David Richmond and Franklin McCain suggested a sit in Woolworth department store. They were afraid, but they did it. They entered and bought supplied, then sat at the lunch counter and ordered coffee. The people there wouldn’t service them, but serviced them on the other counter. The four stayed until they closed and said they would do that every day until they were serviced. They left the Woolworth exited and persuaded by what they did. This convinced more and more African American to sit-in and wait until they were serviced. The NAACP and SClC were nervous about the sit-in campaign.

already in the form of “The Jim Crow Laws” but now that it had been

Blacks couldn’t use the same public places as whites, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools.Racially mixed marriage was illegal, and most blacks couldn’t vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests. Jim Crow laws weren’t taken in northern states; however, blacks still experienced discrimination at their jobs or when they tried to buy a house or get an education.On February 1, 1960, African American students were denied counter service at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina because the policy was that only white customers could sit at the counter; African Americans had to stand. The next day they returned with more students and the peaceful protest called a "sit-in" was begun. Across the South, peaceful sit-ins by students took place in more than 100 cities in 1960. Although the protesters were beaten, and sometimes sent to jail, they continued to peacefully sit-in until they achieved their goals -- desegregation of places of public

The popularity of sit-ins can be reflected in the involvement of the N.A.A.C.P. (The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People). An article published by the New York Times talks about planned demonstrations that will occur in New York City which will be headed by the N.A.A.C.P (Robinson 54). This example shows how large the movement had become by summer 1961 because a nationally recognized organization was already actively involved in demonstrating. Another article, printed in late 1961, reports that the national director of the Congress of Racial Equality would begin planned sit-ins nation wide, with a focus in the South and the Midwest (“Negroes to Broaden” 18). This again proves how effective sit-ins were because a nationally recognized organization was taking the movement and organizing a nation wide effort to end discrimination.

Is the education system excluding minorities on the basis of gender and culture? The United States has become one of the most culturally diverse places to live in. The increase in minorities immigrating to the United States has drastically risen. With this in mind, should policies, laws, and institutions, such as education, be restructured and modified to include minorities? Due to their personal experiences, Adrienne Rich, Mike Rose, and Bell Hooks in The Presence of Others, believe education can be seen as the practice of exclusion (93). All three authors argue that in order to prevent the exclusion of minorities in schools, modifications must occur within the system. Mike Rose argues that

Nixon himself came out adamantly against school busing as an infringement on the rights of people to live in their communities undisturbed.

Another significant transformation took place in the Civil Rights Movement in terms of its strategies. In analyzing this facet of the movement, we notice a great shift from nonviolent demonstration to forward, forceful action. Specifically, at the start of the Civil Rights Movement, lunch counter sit-ins were evident throughout the nation, as were Freedom Riders. Starting in Greensboro, North Carolina at a luncheonette called Woolworths, young black citizens would seat