F.W. Woolworth’s Building & International Civil Rights Center & Museum

Greensboro, North Carolina

The Greensboro Four set off a chain-reaction of sit-ins at this site.

On February 1, 1960, four North Carolina A&T students sat down at the lunch counter of the F.W. Woolworth store.  The young men, whose actions would earn them the name “the Greensboro Four,” ordered coffee at the “whites only” counter.  The staff followed store policy and refused to serve them.  In response, they stayed until the store was closed.  More protesters joined the sit-in each day until it expanded to other cities in North Carolina, and then other states.

The chain reaction led to the desegregation of many lunch counters, and the actions of the original four even gained the sympathy of President Eisenhower.  The former store now serves as the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which opened on February 1, 2010.

For information about additional historical sites in the state, click here.