Please, Take Your Seats
posted by Kristin Johnson
50 years ago today, four freshman from North Carolina A & T College walked into the Woolworth’s Company store in Greensboro, North Carolina. A few bought schools supplies. Then, they sat down at a lunch counter. Politely, they asked to be served. The lunch counter was, in accordance with state and local law, segregated.
An article by Michele Norris appearing in NPR online today provides a touching account of the young men’s experience as they sat at that counter. Franklin McCain recalls that an older white woman sat at the lunch counter a few stools away from the four young black men.
“[T]hink Greensboro, N.C., 1960, a little old white lady who eyes you with that suspicious look … she’s not having very good thoughts about you nor what you’re doing,”…[McCain recalled].
Eventually, she finished her doughnut and coffee. And she walked behind [Joseph] McNeil and McCain — and put her hands on their shoulders.
“She said in a very calm voice, ‘Boys, I am so proud of you. I only regret that you didn’t do this 10 years ago.’”
February 1, 2010 at 9:46 am
Posted in: Civil Rights
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