The Greensboro Sit-ins

[Rick336]

History of non-violent civil disobedience: The Greensboro Sit-ins 1960

In Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1st, 1960, four African American college students from North Carolina A&T College (an all-black college) went to get served in an all-white restaurant at Woolworth’s. The shop was open to all customers regardless of colour, but the restaurant was for whites only. They asked for food, were refused service and asked to leave. The students had done research on what they were doing and had read a handout on tactics of resistance by CORE. This direct action by Ezell Blair Jnr, David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil sparked off the so-called sit-ins.

However, they were not heroes to all African American people. One Black lady, a dishwasher, behind the counter was heard to shout at them that they were "stupid, ignorant…….rabble-rousers, troublemakers." The food counter did not serve them but the café shut 30 minutes early. When the four students returned to their campus, they were greeted as heroes by fellow students.

As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever. ~Clarence Darrow

[keltic63]

Once in college, I was on a PAT bus going from campus to my apartment. I overheard 2 Sr. African-American women talking about "when did they decide that we're black? I'm not black! I'm colored!" I found it interesting because I had been taught that it was disrespectful to call a black person "colored." I'd even been taught to question someone who used the word "colored" by saying "really? what color?" Here were 2 women saying that they preferred the term to black. If nothing else, I learned that language is powerful and that not everyone is going to be happy with the changes that are inevitable. Is "black" accurate? not in my opinion, but it's certainly convenient. It's easier than always saying "African American" but then, this isn't always accurate either, is it?

So what motivated the dishwasher lady to respond that way? was it the fear of what might happen to her because of these "uppity" young college students? She was happy in her safe world; she knew what was likely to happen if she demanded equal rights, but felt she could live with the way things were. I really think it is the fear that because she was black, she would take on some of the blame for the disruption and suffer because of it.


hmmm, could that have happened at any of the colleges that the SF ER visited?

[Vanessa White]

I always think that it is important to look beyond the words and consider the motivation of the words and actions of others. I have a few lesbian friends who are all pretty much out now, but in college, a few of them before they came out, were some of the biggest offenders of making derogatory comments about gay persons, especially women. Although that doesn't really excuse the behavior, it helps to explain it. I often think that those that protest the most are the ones that view themselves as most vulnerable, or with the most to lose. So, it is a last ditch effort to fit in and align him/herself with the majority. Minority status fits me just fine, thanks.