This article has been edited since it first appeared in print.
The International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro has the original F.W. Woolworth lunch counter that was the site of an influential protest against segregation in the city. (Photo by Bill Russ)
If there’s an iconic image that captures the history of Greensboro, located in the rolling Piedmont hills of North Carolina, it’s a modest, L-shaped dime-store lunch counter.
In 1960, the whites-only luncheonette in the F.W. Woolworth retail store in downtown Greensboro was the site of a peaceful protest against segregation by North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University students. After they were refused service, the students staged a sit-in. Students from Bennett College, a historically Black college for women, attended NAACP student chapter meetings with A&T students at the institution in 1959, where they began detailed planning. The Bennett students served as spotters during the first day of the Woolworth whites-only lunch counter sit-in and joined the next day. The protest grew and inspired other nonviolent, student-led protests across the South, including efforts by Virginia Union students in Richmond at the old Thalhimers department store on West Broad Street. Six months after the protests began, Woolworth desegregated its luncheonettes.
To commemorate the critical moment, the fully preserved and restored lunch counter resides at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, housed in the former F.W. Woolworth store in Greensboro. The museum also donated a portion of that counter to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that had been added on in 1963 to accommodate new customers post-racial integration.The ICRCM is a cultural touchstone and well worth a weekend excursion, a three-hour drive from metro Richmond.
International Civil Rights Center and Museum (Photo by Dan Routh Photography)
Looking Back
The museum was founded in 1993, opening 50 years to the day after the Feb. 1, 1960, sit-ins began in Greensboro. The art deco building, designed by architect Charles Hartmann, reflects the bold geometric patterns and bright colors of the movement.
Older visitors might learn details previously unknown to them, such as the planning that had gone into the protest, as revealed during a reenactment of a session in the students’ dorm room in 1960. Following the first day of protest, 20 students joined the original four, and so the protests grew, day upon day. The immediate impact was the change in segregationist policies by Woolworth and other establishments.
I began my tour on the center’s lower level, with its reenactment of the sit-in on life-sized video screens — set against the backdrop of the 1954 Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Board of Education. The “Hall of Shame” display included carefully curated images of civil rights-era violence, depicting bombings and lynchings. Walking through the reproduction of the “Colored Entrance” at the Greensboro Rail Depot, I stopped to read about the roles of churches, schools, political institutions and the courts in the civil rights movement. Displayed items include a pen used to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, and the uniform of a Tuskegee Airman, one of the African American fighter pilots in World War II who had hailed from Greensboro.
The “Battlegrounds” exhibition — part of the center’s permanent display — showcases specific instances of segregation in housing, transportation, accommodations, dining and entertainment, and voting that were occurring across the United States.
More to See
North Carolina A&T is about 1.5 miles east of the museum at 1601 E. Market St. In front of the campus stands James Barnhill’s “February One” statue of the four young men collectively known as the Greensboro Four: Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond. When I pulled up my car, a slow, steady rain fell as I stepped out, along with other visitors, for a closer look at the young men whose likenesses pose forever in bronze.
Another civil rights must-see in the city is The Historic Magnolia House at 442 Gorrell St., a restored home telling the story of accommodations for African Americans during Jim Crow-era segregation. The house hosts special events and brunches; if you can wrangle a spot in a group lunch, the fried chicken lives up to its storied reputation.
If you’re in town overnight, have breakfast (served all day) at Scrambled Southern Diner at 2417 Spring Garden St. in the Lindley Park neighborhood, which showcases North Carolina products and foods from local farmers. Vegetable-infused vodka bloody marys and other clever cocktails add interest to lunch, which begins at 11 a.m., as well as to breakfast.
Being There
WHAT: The International Civil Rights Center & Museum, 134 S. Elm St., Greensboro, North Carolina
YOUR VISIT: Self-guided tours in the auditorium include a film introduction, followed by a walk-through of the facility; guided tours are offered to small groups and include walk-throughs of the permanent collection.
COST: Self-guided tours are $15 for adults, $10 for students grades K-12; staff-led tours are $25 adults, $15 students; and $10 for online film tour only.
LEARN MORE: 336-274-9199, sitinmovement.org
