1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Eves, and welcome to This Day in History Class, 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: a show that on covers history one day at a time. 3 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 1: Today is February one, nineteen. The day was February one, 4 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty. It was the height of the civil rights 5 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: movement in America and black students across the South we're 6 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: organizing to fight for equal rights. Segregation between African American 7 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: and white people was the norm, and for years activists 8 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: have been fighting the status quo with methods of non 9 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: violent protest. So on the afternoon of February one, four 10 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: students named Ezelle Blair Jr. David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and 11 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: Joseph mcne ill purchased items, then set down and a 12 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 1: whites only lunch counter at a Woolworth store in Greensboro, 13 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: North Carolina. They refused to move. Their action that day 14 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 1: was simple, but it took careful planning and it spurred 15 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:21,119 Speaker 1: more sit ins across the country. The four men, all 16 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, would 17 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 1: become known as the Greensboro for The four students would 18 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: meet in their dorm rooms and so called bull sessions, 19 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: where they discussed the treatment of black people in the 20 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: US and what they could do about it. But after Blair, 21 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: now named Gabriel Kazan, was denied service when he tried 22 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: to get food at a Greyhound bus station, the group 23 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:54,440 Speaker 1: was moved to action. They knew they needed to do 24 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: more and talk less to be able to incite real change, 25 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: so they just at it to protest racial segregation by 26 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: conducting a sit in at Woolworth, which was a large 27 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,679 Speaker 1: enough entity that any major disruption would get national attention 28 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: from black and non black people. And if they got 29 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: enough media attention, they thought then they could get Woolworth 30 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: to desegregate. It's been said that white store owner Ralph 31 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 1: John's encouraged and counseled the Greensborough for into the Woolworth 32 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: sit ins, but McCain and Kazan have denied the sit 33 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 1: in was John's idea. Anyway, the concept of a sit 34 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: in was not new. Activists had engaged in this kind 35 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: of protest for over a decade by this point. In 36 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: nineteen three, Polly Murray, a Howard University law student who 37 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: would go on to become a lawyer and priest, organized 38 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: stool sittings in segregated cafeterias. Women in the Citizens Civil 39 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: Rights Committee in St. Louis, Missouri held lunch counter sit 40 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,679 Speaker 1: ins in the nineteen forties, and in the nineteen fifties, 41 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: the Congress on Racial Equality stage sit ins in Baltimore 42 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: to protest discrimination. But even though stit ins had already 43 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: been happening all over the country, the Greensboro Woolworth sit 44 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: in sparked a massive movement. On February one, the Greensboro 45 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: for tried to order coffee at the world Worth lunch counter, 46 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: but they were refused service, as was the store policy. 47 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 1: The staff asked the students to leave, but the students 48 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: did not budge. When police got to the Woolworth, they 49 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: said they couldn't take any action because the students hadn't 50 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: provoked anybody, and even then local media was already all 51 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: over the story. So the four stayed at the lunch 52 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: counter until the store closed early, and then went back 53 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: to campus to find more people to join their cause. 54 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: The next day, nearly thirty students showed up at the 55 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: world Worth counter to protest segregation, and the day after that, 56 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 1: more than sixty students showed up. The Student Executive Committee 57 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: for Justice sent a letter to the president of f W. Woolworth, 58 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: asking the company to quote take a firm stand to 59 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: eliminate discrimination. In the following days, the protests grew. Students 60 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: from Bennett College in Dudley High School also joined the demonstrations, 61 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: as well as white students from nearby colleges. Members of 62 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: the Clue Klux Klan and white patrons heckled the students, 63 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: but by February four, the sit in had spread to 64 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: another lunch counter at s H. Crest and Co. And 65 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 1: on February five, the protests had grown to over three 66 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: hundred strong and was getting a ton of media coverage. 67 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: Some students protesting at the Woolworth and Crests stores did 68 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: to get arrested, but the boycotts were hurting the store sales, 69 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: and soon people all over the country were organizing sit 70 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: ins and other forms of non violent protests against racial segregation. 71 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: The Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee formed in April nineteen 72 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: sixty at the encouragement of civil rights organizer Ella Baker, 73 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: and in July nineteen sixty the Woolworth and Cress counters 74 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 1: were integrated. F W. Woolworth employees Charles Buss, Maddie Loan, 75 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,600 Speaker 1: Susie Morrison and Jamie Robinson were the first African Americans 76 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: to eat at the Woolworth lunch counter. I'm Eaves step 77 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: Coote and hopefully you know a little bit more about 78 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. Hey y'all, if you 79 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: listen yesterday, you know that I had a cold. I 80 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: am still recovering from that cold, which means my voice 81 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,839 Speaker 1: is still hoarse. So thank you for bearing with me again. 82 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: You can subscribe to This Day in History class on 83 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, or wherever you 84 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Come back tomorrow for another tidbit from history.