HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — 64 years ago, a group of brave teenagers took a stand by taking a seat. Students from William Penn High School in High Point organized a sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter on February 11, 1960.
On Sunday, the community gathered to honor and celebrate the people who fought for equality.
“I am very proud of what we did,” said Mary Lou Blakeney, who participated in the sit-in. She was 16 years old when she walked into Woolworth’s in High Point and sat down at the white’s only lunch counter. “We were a bit nervous now I won’t lie, the other kids that started first were college students, our youngest person was 14 at that time,” Blakeney said.
Students at the former William Penn High School, now known as Penn Griffin School for the Arts, wanted to follow in the footsteps of the North Carolina A&T students who did a sit-in at the Woolworth’s in Greensboro 10 days earlier . “On the 11 th we as high school students wanted to become involved in it and we did, we met a couple of times and we decided that we should start a sit-in movement in High Point, not only Greensboro,” said William Alston, who participated in the sit-in.