This is part of our series of places where Black History happened
In January 1960, four young black students, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil, from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, devised a plan to change the segregation policies at the Woolworth’s restaurant and general store in Greensboro, North Carolina. They were inspired by the non-violent protests advocated by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Their plan was simple. On February 1, 1960, after making purchases at desegregated counters in the Woolworth’s, the four freshmen sat down at the lunch counter, which was for “whites only”, and asked for a cup of coffee from a black waitress. The official policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites and they were duly refused service, asked to leave and give up their seats. The four men refused…