Today in Greensboro, North Carolina, the old F.W. Woolworth and Co. building, officially becomes The International Civil Rights Center and Museum.
On February 1, 1960, four 17-year-old freshmen at the all-black Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina , Joseph A. McNeil; Franklin E. McCain; David L. Richmond and Ezell A. Blair Jr. walked in the Woolworth store, sat down at the lunch counter and ordered some food. In accordance with the Jim Crow laws, food was refused, sitting at the counter was for whites only, if they wanted to eat, they had to stand at the of the lunch room.
They sat there mute. Came back the next day, and the next, after a week, hundreds of supporters and opponents packed Woolworth at lunch time. By March the silent protest had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. After six months the Woolworth food counter was desegregated. This non-violent protest became a strategy of the American Civil Rights Movement.
In 1993, Woolworth closed the store, and the building was bought with the idea of turning it into a museum. $23 million of mainly private donations and 17 years of very little community support, the museum opens today. The three surviving protesters will attended the official ceremony.
No comments:
Post a Comment