Greensboro Four - Woolworth Lunch Counter

Paving the way for other activists to integrate Woolworth lunch counters, four African-Americans sat in "whites-only" seats at the Greensboro, North Carolina store.  It was February 1, 1960 when they ordered a piece of cherry pie.  (The Greensboro 4 weren't served anything at all on that day.)

Although this event resulted in angry protests, by white citizens, and closing of the lunch counter for a time, no sit-in participant was arrested or harmed.  This video clip, incorporating archival footage and participant interviews, provides background on the successful integration of the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro.

In May of 1963, activists in Jackson, Mississippi attempted to integrate the Woolworth lunch counter in that city.  (Woolworth's had continued their "local custom" policy, thereby refusing to serve African-Americans when that was the "local custom").  Their efforts were met with different reactions, and they left the store wearing varying doses of ketchup, mustard and other lunch-counter condiments.

Credits

Clip from "History's Lost and Found," online courtesy the History Channel.  Copyright, History Channel, all rights reserved.  Provided here as fair use for educational purposes.