Everyday Courage

The same menu still hangs on the wall saying that a cup of coffee is 10 cents, and the same black countertop still stands on the building's second floor.

The clientele's changed a bit though.

When four North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University students quietly took four seats at the F.W. Woolworth's Five and Dime Store in Greensboro, February 1, 1960, they could have never estimated the impact they would have on the burgeoning civil rights movement. Subsequent sit-ins occurred throughout the South, and the movement, which had lost some of its strength in the late 1950s after the Montgomery Bus Boycott, rolled with newfound intensity.

Now, the Woolworth's sign has been ripped off the 134 South Elm St. location, and one for the International Civil Rights Center & Museum has replaced it.

Although the museum will not be completely finished until 2005--administrators still need to procure the funds for an auditorium and a library--it still stands as an enticing destination for the historically minded.

Guided tours and video presentations (appointments are recommended) take place everyday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., and the relatively few visitors that the museum now attracts will allow you to speak at length with your tour guide about the Greensboro civil rights movement.

As you eat your packed lunch on a piece of the original countertop (another piece is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington), ask what was said during the Greensboro Four's preliminary meetings . Find out who the first blacks were that actually received service at the lunch counter.

These are the truly captivating stories of the civil rights movement that get lost beneath the heavy emphasis on Martin and Malcolm. This museum celebrates the lives of the ordinary people who banded together, and, despite their lack of media attention, served as the backbone of a revolution.