Civil Rights Protest Site Opens As Museum

by Josh from North Carolina

On February 1, 1960, four African-American college students, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, and Joseph McNeil, began a sit-in at an all white lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Six months later, it ended with successful desegregation, blacks and whites finally sharing the same eating space. The Greensboro Four protest, as it came to be called, is widely considered as one of the seminal acts of Southern civil rights. Forty-nine years later, the former F.W. Woolworth five and dime whose events ignited similar sit-ins across the South has been transformed into the International Civil Rights Center & Museum (http://www.sitinmovement.org/home.asp).

Containing many preserved 1929 Woolworth architectural details, including terrazzo floors and an art deco staircase, as well as featuring the original contested stools and counter as its focal point, the center is a repository of historical documents and artifacts relating to the struggle for civil rights. The 30,000 square foot complex houses fourteen permanent exhibits, a state of the art auditorium, traveling exhibits, and an archival center. Notable artifacts on display include a 1950s era bus seat signed by Rosa Parks; a rare two-sided Coke machine, one meant for blacks, the other for whites; and a pen used by President Lyndon Johnson to sign the National Voting Rights Act of 1965 (http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2010-01-28-international-civil-rights-center_N.htm). The museum’s stated purpose is to provide a place “to witness, to experience and to discuss how to affect social change in our own nation and around the world.” (http://www.sitinmovement.org/home.asp)

Greensboro is the third-largest city in North Carolina, and elected its first African-American mayor, Yvonne Johnson, in 2007.

Doors open February 1, 2010. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for students and seniors, and $4 for children aged 6-12 (under 6 are free).