On the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in, the protesters recall why they succeeded
By Martha Waggoner, APSaturday, January 30, 2010
NC museum opens on 50th anniversary of sit-in
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Franklin McCain says the best feeling of his life came from sitting on a lunch counter stool.
That stool was at a segregated counter the Woolworth store in downtown Greensboro. McCain and three other black freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University sat down and demanded service 50 years ago, on Feb. 1, 1960.
It took six months, but by the end of July, the lunch counter was desegregated. The actions of McCain, Joseph McNeil, David Richmond and Ezell Blair Jr. sparked a wave of civil rights protests that changed America.
On Monday, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum will open on the site of the former store. Its star attraction: the original stools and counter where the four sat and demanded service.
