February 1, 1960: At 4:30 PM, U.S. Eastern Time, 4 black men sit down at the 66-seat L-shaped stainless steel lunch counter inside the F.W. Woolworth Company store at 132 South Elm Street in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Their names were Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. They were freshmen at North Carolina A&T (Agricultural & Technical) University, a historically black school in Greensboro. They had purchased toothpaste and other products from a desegregated counter at the store with no problems, but were then refused service at the store's lunch counter when they each asked for a cup of coffee and a donut with cream on the side.
According to a witness, a white waitress told the boys "We don't serve Negroes here." Blair responded that he was just served 2 feet away, to which the waitress replied, "Negroes eat at the other end."
An African-American girl who was cleaning behind the counter called them "stupid, ignorant, rabble-rousers, troublemakers." Another African-American told them, "You're just hurting race relations by sitting there." However, an elderly white woman told them, "I am just so proud of you. My only regret is that you didn't do this ten or fifteen years ago."
Store manager Clarence Harris asked them to leave, and, when they would not budge, called his supervisor, who told him, "They'll soon give up, leave and be forgotten." Harris allowed the students to stay and did not call police to evict them. The four freshmen stayed until the store closed that night, and then went back to the North Carolina A&T University campus,
The next morning, 20 students participated, including 4 women. By the end of the week, 300 people were taking part. Despite being scared, the men stood their ground. McCain compared the men to "Mack trucks" because there was simply no way anyone could move them from their seats. The longer the men sat, the more McCain realized that no one was stopping them. He later said that he thought to himself "Maybe they can't do anything to us, maybe we can keep it up."
The protest spread to other Southern cities. On March 16, President Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed his concern for those who were fighting for their human and civil rights, saying that he was "deeply sympathetic with the efforts of any group to enjoy the rights of equality that they are guaranteed by the Constitution."
On July 25, after nearly $200,000 in losses due to the demonstrations, store manager Harris quietly integrated the lunch counter when he asked 3 black employees of the store to change out of work clothes into street clothes, and order a meal at the counter. These were the first black customers to be served at the store's lunch counter. The event received considerably less publicity than the protest.
The sit-in is often credited with kick-starting the Civil Rights Movement into high gear. After this would come the next year's Freedom Rides, the integrations of the State universities in Southern States, the Birmingham Campaign, the March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and the Civil Rights Acts.
Of the Greensboro Four: David Richmond, a Greensboro native found his studies difficult, dropped out, became and alcoholic, and died in 1990, at the age of 49. Franklin McCain, from Washington, D.C., became a chemical engineer, and lived until 2014, at 73.
Ezell Blair, another Greensboro native, became a teacher, converted to Islam, and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. Joseph McNeil, from Wilmington, North Carolina, enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and rose to the rank of Major General. As of February 1, 2022, Khazan and McNeil are both 80 years old.
Store manager Clarence Harris, who wisely chose to handle the situation peacefully, and then to end it peacefully, lived until 1999.
UPDATE: General Joseph McNeil died in 2025, laving Khazan as the last survivor.
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February 1, 1960 was a Monday. Baseball and football were out of season. No games were scheduled in the NHL. There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 103-96 at the Minneapolis Armory. Wilt Chamberlain scored 23 points and grabbed 28 rebounds for the Warriors. Elgin Baylor scored 36 for the Lakers.
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