Greensboro Sit-Ins By: Christian Gaulke

Background Information

  • Occurred in Greensboro North Carolina at Woolworth's a dinner
  • Started on February 1st 1960
  • The segregation of public spaces in the southern states was the cause for the sit-ins

Goal of the Sit-Ins

  • The goal of the sit-ins were to influence the southern state's to change their policies on segregation in public places

People Involved

Demographics

  • Sit-Ins comprised mainly people of color participating in them

Important People

  • Ezell Blair Jr.
  • David Richmond
  • Franklin McCain
  • Joseph McNeil
  • All were students from North Carolina Agriculture and Technology college

Their Impact

  • They were the "Greensboro Four" who started the Sit-Ins influenced by non-violent protest techniques practiced by Mohandas Gandhi.

Obstacles

  • Many protesters arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct, or disturbing the peace
  • Also many protesters had been harassed by white people and were often called names or had things thrown at them

How did they overcome these?

  • Protester had overcame the obstacles of the arrest by not putting up a fight which showed they meant no harm for not resisting
  • Protester had overcame the obstacles of being harassed by just ignoring them and not starting fights and to their protests non-violent

Out Come

The impact the Sit-Ins have today

  • Made people recognize the fact they can still protest without violence or even with out talking

Lasting Effects of the Sit-Ins

  • A lasting effect is that the southern states had removed segregation policies in public places throughout the south.
  • Another lasting effect is that students came together to form the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Modern Inequality/Injustice Today

  • Today there is inequality with Native American treaty rights, especially involving the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in the Standing Rock Reservation
  • The tribes that own the reservation had their treaty rights taken away from them so the government could have a oil pipeline built that would run right through it and the tribes got no say in it at all.

How the DAPL protest is similar to Sit-Ins

Similarities

  • Both protests involved people staying in one place and not leaving until the problem they were fighting for would be resolved.

Differences

  • The DAPL protest had escalated to the point of violence while the Sit-Ins remained non-violent though out
  • The DAPL protest didn't involve protesters being silent like the Greensboro Sit-Ins protesters. DAPL protesters spoke out against the pipeline frequently.

Sources:

  • History.com Staff. (2010). The Greensboro Sit-In. Retrieved May 01, 2017from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in?scrlybrkr=274ab716

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