Commentary: The Greensboro Four

We were tired of just talking about it," Franklin McCain explained to one of his interviewers. For Franklin and three other first-year students at North Carolina A&T University, the time had come for real action to desegregate Greensboro's lunch counters.

Like countless groups of other youths before them (and undoubtedly generations to follow), the 17-year-old men had criticized others of inaction, only to realize that they were no better themselves. Eventually, their late night discussions led to the sit-in that would inspire similar actions throughout North Carolina and the rest of the South.

It was one o'clock in the morning, Jan. 31, 1960, and Monday's exams were taunting the budding civil rights activists. Ezrell Blair's grades had taken a dive since he became involved in activism, and he was hesitant to take any actions that might further jeopardize his standing at A&T. Still, the other young men were determined. "Count me in," McCain exclaimed. Joseph McNeil, Blair's roommate, joined in as well. David Richmond also took the dare. Blair, hoping his friends would eventually come to their senses, reluctantly joined what we have come to know as the "The Greensboro Four."

That night, the four men did not sleep well. Blair was thinking about his grades, being arrested, being beaten by white customers, the police, or both. "And I really didn't need all of that at the time, trying to deal with that architecture and engineering course I was taking!" Blair joked to an interviewer. For his part, McCain was not afraid but his mind could not help but wonder, "What is going happen?" He expected to be arrested and only hoped his skull would not be cracked open by a policeman's club.

Blair remembers white patrons getting up and leaving their food in shock. McCain recalls an eerie silence as they asked politely for coffee and pie. The white woman behind the counter finally told the men they could not be served at the counter but were welcome at the serving station reserved for blacks. The manager, Curly Harris, got a black woman who worked at Woolworth's to speak to the men when they refused to leave the counter. She called them "troublemakers" and told the men it was people like them who made the race look bad. The young men were deeply hurt to hear such words from a fellow black, but understood her position as a worker at the store. They were not without supporters, however. McCain still remembers a little old white woman who came up to him and said how proud she was, she just only regretted that such actions could not have taken place years ago.

As the four men had expected, a white police officer eventually showed up and talked with Curly. After a brief discussion inaudible to the young men, the officer simply left. No one would be arrested that day. No skulls would be broken. Curly announced that the store was closing and everyone started to leave. To this day, McCain says he has never felt so alive and fulfilled. "We walked out of that store feeling powerful," he told one interviewer matter-of-factly. "I lost a lot of negative feelings about this country of ours.... I had my going to the mountaintop experience!"

Unfortunately, the young men were not welcomed with open arms back on campus. Many of their fellow students refused to believe they had conducted a successful sit-in and the Greensboro Four spent nearly two hours convincing the skeptics. Even though many students pledged to participate in another sit-in at Woolworth's the next day, only a few actually showed up for Tuesday's sit-in.

However, support for the sit-ins grew exponentially in the coming days and by Feb. 5, 1960, over three hundred students were involved in protests in Greensboro. Students from surrounding colleges, including a few white students, joined in the sit-ins. The student protests even drew the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., prompting him to give his "Fill the jails!" speech in Durham on Feb. 16. On July 26, 1960, Blacks were at last served at Woolworth's counters.

As students, we often wonder what change we are able to make. Tests pile up. Internship deadlines approach. We are caught between enjoying our youth, devoting ourselves to causes we believe in, and fulfilling our duties as college students.

When we feel overwhelmed, we should remember that students just like us have changed history forever. These students had the audacity to go from the engineering exam to the frontlines of social struggles. Sometimes no one believed in these students but themselves.

So stage sit-ins demanding the rights of workers in Mexico, in China, at Duke. Get on national television at the Duke game. Protest the war. I know we have a slim chance of sparking any great social movements. But then again, the Greensboro Four could not have known their one courageous action would inspire us to try.

Bridget Newman is a Trinity junior. Her column appears every third Thursday.