An iconic North Carolina building that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement is now officially a historic landmark.
The F.W. Woolworth Company Building in Greensboro was recently designated as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service .
The building was the site of historical sit-ins by the Greensboro Four , an effort during the Civil Rights Movement that sparked similar sit-ins around North Carolina and a national movement that led more than 700,000 students, clergy members and others to fight for racial equality.
What happened during the sit-ins?
On Feb. 1, 1960, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan and Joseph McNeil, four Black students from N.C. A&T State University , visited the F.W. Woolworth department store’s lunch counter to protest against the business for serving lunch only to white customers , The News & Observer has previously reported .
The group entered the Woolworth store in downtown Greensboro to buy school supplies, with a plan to challenge the store’s racial inequalities . They knew they would be allowed to buy the supplies, but they also knew that the lunch counter in the store would turn them away for being Black.