On February 1st, 1960, four college freshmen in Greensboro, North Carolina took a seat at a "whites only” store called, Woolworth. They placed an order of food, but were refused service. They were asked to leave the store, but remained sitting until the store closed for the day. 
The four freshmen, who attended North Carolina A&T University, came back the next day with a small crowd of people to join them and sit down at the counter to ask for service. The students claimed they acted on impulse and purely out of hatred of the Jim Crow laws.
The sit-ins quickly spread to other North Carolina A&T students, then across the state, and then across the country. Students from Texas, Tennessee, and many more states began their own sit-in protests.
The spark of interest from African American students grew into a full blown social movement. The large quantities of people participating in the sit-ins made them more effective. Some people were arrested and removed from the stores, but other protestors would fill their space.
Many black and white students joined in the protest against the Jim Crow laws. Civil rights organizations formed like the CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), and the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee).
In the July of 1960, the Woolworth store was desegregated and four years after that, the Jim Crow laws ended. The sit-in protests had a huge impact on the Civil Rights Movement and played an important part in ending segregation.
What made the sit-ins so successful was the fact that the protestors used a moral high ground. The public advocated for the cause because the people protesting used respect and peacefulness. They were nonviolent when in the face of violence.
The students needed maximum strength to stay peaceful against the white aggressors (which included police) who harassed, assaulted, and arrested them. The students realized that the calm state they remained in during the sit-ins made the whites uncomfortable.
National television shined a light on the sit-ins and showed the protestors to be civil people. The Jim Crow laws were unraveled and exposed through the news. It created fear in whites because it could harm their white-owned businesses.
The sit-in movement was the first leading effort made by thousands and thousands of African Americans in civil rights involvement. The movement fueled other powerful acts like the Freedom Rides which was a creative protest that involved blacks and whites who rode buses together.
The creative sit-in protests created a feeling of power for many African Americans. They managed to create organizations and end an unfair system all on their own. They realized that they could revive their communities through social action and protest.
The powerful development of the sit-in movement created a huge influential piece of history. A group of local college students created a monumental protest that helped pave the way for civil rights activists and helped defeat the Jim Crow laws. #CivilRights #SitInMovement
