1960 History of the Sit-In's

              1960's SIT-IN's
THEY REFUSED TO BE REFUSED: HISTORICAL STATEMENT
On Sunday evening of January 31, 1960, four freshmen at North Carolina A. & T. College in Greensboro, North Carolina launched an attack against the policy of segregating blacks and whites in places of public accommodation by sitting-in at the "White Only" F.W. Woolworth Company's lunch counter. Although the first sit-in occurred in Oklahoma City on August 19, 1958, the actions of the "Greensboro Four" (and others who joined the following day) led to sit-ins throughout North Carolina, the deep South and the Nation--with whites joining the cause. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Southern University students also began to discuss and question segregated state and city policies and laws. Anticipating a change in the mood of the student body, the all white governing board, the Louisiana State Board of Education,". . .adopted a resolution directing the presidents of all institutions. . . to suspend. . .any student arrested for participating in demonstrations." In spite of the Resolution, the S.G.A. agreed ". . .to coordinate and direct any student demonstrations in the downtown area." At 2:00 P.M. on March 28, 1960, seven students from Southern University (including the president of the student body and three law students) quietly sat at the S.H. Kress' lunch counter reserved for "whites." The manager at Kress' store, who
Compiled by:  Angela V. Proctor, Archivist  John B. Cade Library  Southern University and A&M College