On this day in 1960, the Greensboro Four staged a "sit-in" at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Who Were the Greensboro Four? The four Black students ~ Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond ~ were freshmen at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. They had entered the store to purchase school supplies. After, they went to the lunch counter and asked to be served. This simple act was a courageous effort to protest racial injustice. African Americans could shop in Woolworth's five-and-dime stores, but they were not permitted to sit at the lunch counters.

A History Moment. Jim Crow Laws. This prohibition reflected southern segregation policies that began with the passage of Jim Crow laws in 1898. Blacks were also forbidden to use the same drinking fountains as whites, to sit in the same sections of buses and movie theaters, or to swim in the same public pools.

Still No Service. Twenty-nine students from the university joined them the next day. On the third day of the protest, there were 63 students at the lunch counter. Soon African American students from other colleges ~ and some white students ~ were participating. When Woolworth's lunch counter was full, the students began a second sit-in at S. H. Kress, another five-and-dime store in downtown Greensboro. By the fifth day, over 300 students were involved in the protests.

Power In Numbers. Wire services picked up the story, and civil rights organizations began to spread the word to other college campuses. In two weeks, students in eleven cities held sit-ins, primarily at Woolworth's and S.H. Kress stores.

The Sit-In Plan: A group of students would go to a lunch counter and ask to be served. If they were, they'd move on to the next lunch counter. If not, they would not move until they had been served. If they were arrested, a new group would take their place. They came in their Sunday best, studied quietly at the counter, and were always polite.

The Movement Grows. The first few weeks of sit-ins were fairly quiet. Blacks were not served, but they were not harassed much either. Then, on February 27, sit-in students in Nashville were attacked by a group of white teenagers. Police arrived, and let the white teens off while arresting the Black protesters for "disorderly conduct." But as each group of protesters was arrested, a new group took its place.