Greensboro News & Record
Saturday Morning, February 2, 1985
pRemembering
/ leader
of sit-in
visits site
When Ima Edwards approached
David Richmond at the Wool-
worth lunch counter Friday and
asked for his order, he didn't need
to look at the menu.
"I'm going to have the same
thing I asked for 25 years ago," he
said. "Do you remember?"
Edwards' memory wasn't that
sharp, though she had been a
waitress at Woolworth on Feb. 1,
1960.
"I'll have coffee and pie," Richmond said.
This time Richmond got quick
service and a hug from Edwards,
who now is the lunch counter manager.
Twenty-five years ago, all Richmond and fellow N.C. A&T State
University freshmen Franklin
McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and Joseph McNeil got from the Wool-
worth staff were angry looks and
rejection.
It was a whites-only lunch
counter then. The four are black.
Richmond returned Friday for a
symbolic visit to the site of the
Media crowd around Woolworth lunch counter during sit-in leader David Richmond's appearance Friday
historic sit-ins, an event that
many historians credit with starting the civil rights movement in
America.
At least 12 television cameras
— including those from CBS,
Anr NBC and CNN— and doz
ens of photographers recorded
Richmond's every sip of coffee and
bite of apple pie.
The store manager who tried to
oust him in 1960 wasn't there, but
present manager Ernest Kennedy
was a gracious substitute.
"We're very glad to have you in
the store today," Kennedy told
Richmond. "We appreciate your
business."
"Wow" was Ima Edwards' response to the excitement. She
spent about as much time being in
terviewed about the way things
were as she did cooking hamburgers on the grill.
The interview lines were longest at Richmond's counter stool.
(See Counter, D2)
Greensboro News & Record
Saturday Morning, February 2, 1985
pRemembering
/ leader
of sit-in
visits site
When Ima Edwards approached
David Richmond at the Wool-
worth lunch counter Friday and
asked for his order, he didn't need
to look at the menu.
"I'm going to have the same
thing I asked for 25 years ago," he
said. "Do you remember?"
Edwards' memory wasn't that
sharp, though she had been a
waitress at Woolworth on Feb. 1,
1960.
"I'll have coffee and pie," Richmond said.
This time Richmond got quick
service and a hug from Edwards,
who now is the lunch counter manager.
Twenty-five years ago, all Richmond and fellow N.C. A&T State
University freshmen Franklin
McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and Joseph McNeil got from the Wool-
worth staff were angry looks and
rejection.
It was a whites-only lunch
counter then. The four are black.
Richmond returned Friday for a
symbolic visit to the site of the
Media crowd around Woolworth lunch counter during sit-in leader David Richmond's appearance Friday
historic sit-ins, an event that
many historians credit with starting the civil rights movement in
America.
At least 12 television cameras
— including those from CBS,
Anr NBC and CNN— and doz
ens of photographers recorded
Richmond's every sip of coffee and
bite of apple pie.
The store manager who tried to
oust him in 1960 wasn't there, but
present manager Ernest Kennedy
was a gracious substitute.
"We're very glad to have you in
the store today," Kennedy told
Richmond. "We appreciate your
business."
"Wow" was Ima Edwards' response to the excitement. She
spent about as much time being in
terviewed about the way things
were as she did cooking hamburgers on the grill.
The interview lines were longest at Richmond's counter stool.
(See Counter, D2)