Civil Rights Activism in the 1960’s: The unique environment and development of the Greensboro Sit-In Movement. - Megan Hibbs

The Greensboro Sit-In Movement began on the 1^st of February in 1960 with four, young black men who attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. They entered the local Woolworths in downtown Greensboro and made a small stand in demand for equal treatment with the white customers. They were refused, but they returned the next day with more students. The Sit-In Movement quickly spread, over the next couple of months, to 54 cities across 9 states.^[1]

This initially small statement of four students became the start of the Student Civil Rights Movement. This had a huge impact on improving the level of desegregation in America, as a year later showed that more than 100 cities had enacted at least a minimum of desegregation. The Sit-In Movement also inspired the creation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was founded in Raleigh North Carolina which led Non-Violent Student-Led protests across the United States and was a huge part of the growing Civil Rights Movement.[2] 

It is important to understand that the Sit-In Movement developed due to the unique environment of Greensboro. This series of events would likely not have been possible in another political and social atmosphere of the US in the 1960’s. The Sit-In Movement occurred due to a growing level of frustration within the black community. They had lost any trust that had developed with the white leaders of their city because of their empty promise to end segregation in the late 1950’s. As well as the following treatment of many African American school children who either attempted to or attended the previously all-white public schools.[3]

The atmosphere of Greensboro was unusual due to the ‘moderation politics’^[4] that was being used as an attempt to camouflage the true racist nature of the city and its leaders. They were trying to create an image of racial liberalism, which meant that the treatment of their African American communities was largely less barbaric and brutal than other Southern cities. This unique environment allowed the resentment and the civil unrest to grow and fester, without the same level of fear that many black communities in the South had to overcome.

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[1] W. H, Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 73, Accessed: 13/03/2020

[2] Hohenstein K., ‘Sit In Movement’, Encyclopaedia Britannica, March 11 2020, https://www.britannica.com/event/sit-in-movement, Accessed: 13/03/2020

[3] W. H, Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 43, Accessed: 13/03/2020

[4] W. H, Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 42, Accessed: 13/03/2020