On February 1, 1960, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph MacNeil, entered the Woolworth's store on South Elm Street in Greensboro, North Carolina. They purchased items from a desegregated counter, with no issues, and each ordered a cup of coffee and a donut from the lunch counter. They were refused service. A white waitress said, "We don't serve Negroes here". The men were also harassed by the African-American employees.
The A&T Four or the Greensboro Four, as they became to be known as, stayed until closing. The next day, over twenty black students showed up to sit at the counter. Again they were refused service, but they stayed and worked on homework from 11am - 3pm. They were harassed by the white customers, however, the local news was now alerted.
On February 3, more than 60 black students showed up, with about one third being female. The lunch counter still refused service and members of the local KKK were there. Woolworth's stated it would abide by its segregation policy.
February 4, over 300 people took part, including students from across the Greensboro area. Organizers agreed to expand the sit-ins to include the lunch counter at the S.H Kress & Co. store that day as well.
On February 5, 50 white men sat at the counter to protest the sit-ins, which now included white students. Police arrested three white patrons for yelling and swearing.
Saturday, February 6, over 1000 protestors and counter-protesters filled the store, until a bomb threat was phoned in, forcing the store to close.
The sit-ins continued, and the students began a boycott of stores with segregated lunch counters. Those stores saw a drop in revenue by a third, which led to them dropping their segregation policies.
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