February 1, 1960: Four Students Sat Down

Four freshmen from North Carolina A&T — Ezell Blair Jr. (later Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil — walked into the F.W. Woolworth's at 134 South Elm Street, bought items from the general counter, sat at the whites-only lunch counter, and ordered coffee. Not served. Didn't leave.

Not spontaneous — months of discussing civil disobedience, influenced by Gandhi and King. But the impact was immediate. Within a week the sit-in spread to other counters in Greensboro. Within a month, thirty cities in seven states. Within six months, the Woolworth's desegregated. The sit-in became the primary tactic of the Southern civil rights movement.

The building is now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. The original counter — 66 feet of formica and chrome, the actual stools — is preserved. Not behind glass. You stand beside it close enough to touch. The A&T Four were eighteen. Freshmen. They had midterms that week. They decided that the discomfort of sitting where they weren't wanted was less than the discomfort of living in a country where coffee depended on skin color.