When he was a college freshman, Franklin McCain decided it was time to act against segregation. On Feb. 1, 1960, he and three fellow students of his all-black college sat down at the whites-only lunch counter of the F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C. “We had no notion that we’d even be served,” he later said. “What we wanted to do was serve notice, more than anything else, that we were going to be about trying to achieve some of the rights and privileges we were due as citizens of this country.”
The so-called Greensboro Four got no coffee that day, said The Washington Post. But they kept coming back, and within a week hundreds of supporters had joined them. “The best feeling of my life,” McCain later said, “was sitting on that dumb stool.” By the time the Woolworth in Greensboro served its first black customer six months later, the Greensboro Four had sparked “a movement of sit-ins across the country.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
McCain later said that the Greensboro Four’s action had arisen from a simple question, said The New York Times: “At what point does a moral man act against injustice?” Their sit-in, along with the many that came before and after it, built the momentum that led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its ban on segregation.
-
Why is the Trump administration talking about ‘Western civilization’?Talking Points Rubio says Europe, US bonded by religion and ancestry
-
Quentin Deranque: a student’s death energizes the French far rightIN THE SPOTLIGHT Reactions to the violent killing of an ultraconservative activist offer a glimpse at the culture wars roiling France ahead of next year’s elections
-
Secured vs. unsecured loans: how do they differ and which is better?the explainer They are distinguished by the level of risk and the inclusion of collateral
-
James Van Der Beek obituary: fresh-faced Dawson’s Creek starIn The Spotlight Van Der Beek fronted one of the most successful teen dramas of the 90s – but his Dawson fame proved a double-edged sword
-
Catherine O'Hara: The madcap actress who sparkled on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Schitt’s Creek’Feature O'Hara cracked up audiences for more than 50 years
-
Bob Weir: The Grateful Dead guitarist who kept the hippie flameFeature The fan favorite died at 78
-
Brigitte Bardot: the bombshell who embodied the new FranceFeature The actress retired from cinema at 39, and later become known for animal rights activism and anti-Muslim bigotry
-
Frank Gehry: the architect who made buildings flow like waterFeature The revered building master died at the age of 96
-
R&B singer D’AngeloFeature A reclusive visionary who transformed the genre
-
Kiss guitarist Ace FrehleyFeature The rocker who shot fireworks from his guitar
-
Robert Redford: the Hollywood icon who founded the Sundance Film FestivalFeature Redford’s most lasting influence may have been as the man who ‘invigorated American independent cinema’ through Sundance
