GREENSBORO, N.C. — North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is holding it's 59th Annual February One Sit-In Celebration on Friday.
It's all about honoring and remembering the legacy of the Greensboro Four.
Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil staged the first sit-in at the Woolworth's segregated lunch counter in downtown Greensboro on February 1, 1960.
All four men were freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University.
According to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, the Greensboro Four walked into the Woolworth's store and purchased items at several counters.
After purchasing the items, the group decided to sit at the store's "whites only" lunch counter to order coffee, but the men were denied service and asked to leave. The Greensboro Four sat at the counter until eventually, the store closed early.
The group of men returned to campus and asked others to join them for the cause. More students joined them and sat at the "whites only" lunch counter from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., enduring abuse persecution.
The sit-ins gathered strength over the next four days and eventually included more than 1,000 people filling the store in protest.
The F.W. Woolworth's lunch counter served their first black customers on July 25, 1960. The lunch counter officially became desegregated the next day.
