Fifty Years ago today
From
FOX News:
Woolworth Protest 50th Anniversary
Today is the 50th anniversary of a sit-in that changed America.
It was February 1, 1960, that four black college freshmen walked up to the "whites only" lunch counter at an F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C., sat down and demanded service.
Five days after that protest, the demonstration reached at least 1,000 people.
Within two months, sit-ins were happening in 54 cities in nine states. And within six months, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was desegregated.
Today, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum will opened on the site of the Greensboro Woolworth store.
Part of the original counter is now at the Smithsonian, but the original stools where the four students sat are still there.
One of those students, Franklin McCain, now says "sitting on that dumb stool" was "the best feeling of my life."
The building remains because it was bought in 1993 from a bank that had planned to turn it into a parking lot.
I was eight when this happened. I remember it being talked about as a major event.
It is wonderful how few people play the race card these days. There still is a vestige of white v/s black and black v/s white baiting but it is more for political gain than actual hostility.
There are always those 0.01% outliers but you will find these for any topic; race, religion, politics, diet, environment, etc...
Posted by DaveH at February 1, 2010 7:08 PM