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On Monday February 1, 1960, four black freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro sat down at the whites-only lunch counter in Woolworth’s. as the students had anticipated while planning the action in their dorm rooms, they were refused service. Although they could buy pencils or toothpaste, black people were not allowed to eat in Woolworth’s. But the four students stayed at the counter until closing time. Word of their actions spread …

…next 18 months 70,000 people- most of them black students, a few of them white allies-participated in sit-ins against segregation in dozens of communities. More than 3,000 were arrested. African Americans had discovered a new form of direct action protest, dignified and powerful, which white people could not ignore. The sit-in movement also transformed participants’ self-image, empowering them psychologically and emotionally. Franklin McCain, one of the original four Greensboro students, later recalled a great feeling of soul cleansing.