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Southeastern Pennsylvania and On February 1, 1960, four African American students – Ezell A. Blair Jr., David Leinhail Richmond, Joseph Alfred McNeil, and Franklin Eugene McCain – from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (A&T) , a historically black college, sat at a segregated lunch counter in the Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth's store. This lunch counter only had chairs/stools for whites, while blacks had to stand and eat. Although they were refused service, they were allowed to stay at the counter. The four students were aware that Woolworth’s would not serve blacks at their lunch counter but they sat down anyway, engaging themselves in a plan they had been discussing for a month prior to the sit-in. When notified by one of the waitresses of the events that were occurring in his store that February afternoon, the store’s manager Clarence Harris first told his staff to leave the students alone, hoping they would eventually leave. However, Harris grew nervous that violence would soon ensue so he went to the police. Although he did not have the men arrested, assuming their demonstration would soon end, he did have several police officers stationed in the store. Contrary to the manager's assumptions, the following morning the four students, along with 23 other men and 4 women showed up at Woolworth’s to protest. As the days went on, more and more students from the Agricultural and Technical State University as well as Bennett College and Dudley High School (all with a dominantly African American student population) participated in the Woolworth sit-in.[2] The number of students grew so large that by
February 5, four days after the sit-in began, 300 students arrived
at Woolworth’s to take part in the peaceful protest.
(information courtesy of Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensboro_sit-ins) Members of the Southeastern Pennsylvania and Greater Philadelphia chapter of CBTU traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina, January 14-18th, 2010. We went to work with our Brothers and Sisters of the AFL-CIO in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins. The AFL-CIO kicked off a national celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy with a call on the White House and Congress for meaningful jobs creation policies. Union members from around the country gathered in Greensboro, North Carolina for five days of activities, including community service projects, a jobs town hall meeting and workshops and commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-ins. In addition to the Greensboro celebration attended by activists from around the country, working Americans held roundtables, marches, and rallies nationwide to remind their representatives that Dr. King's vision for the nation included not only civil rights but also economic justice for all Americans—a vision that is far from fulfilled.
Night of Elegance
Night of Elegance Brochure PDF
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