On February 1st, 1960, four Black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University staged the first ‘sit in’ at a Woolworth’s lunch counter. The four went into the shop, bought stationary and supplies and then went to the lunch counter. They knew that they would not be served. They politely asked to be served and when refused, simply sat down. The next day they returned to the counter with 27 classmates. They again asked to be served, were refused and again, sat down until the store either served them, or closed. They repeated this with increasing numbers of students attending these sit ins until it got to the point where there were picket lines outside the store. The sit in’s stopped only because the store was forced to close due to a bomb threat. The idea of the non violent protest quickly spread and by mid February some 54 sit ins had been staged in 15 cities. By the summer of 1960 the protesters had convinced Woolworth’s to desegregate its lunch counters.<\/p>\n
The success of the lunch counter sit in was then used in other places where segregation occured, such as Libraries, art galleries, parks and swimming pools.<\/p>\n