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Field recordist John Santa, with headphones, and cam- actors, from left, Stephanie Schlosser, Jim West and
era -nan Warren Gentry set up a scene Sunday with Blake Edwards at Woolworth's on South Elm Street
c
rilm recreates Woolworth sit-ins
By LAURIE WILLIS
Staff Writer
After being told that only white people could
eat hamburgers and drink milkshakes at the
downtown Woolworth lunch counter in 1960,
Katherine Rogers, 12, of Raleigh was puzzled.
"You mean black people couldn't even come
in here?" she asked.
"Sure they could, to wash the floors," replied
Jim West, 12, also of Raleigh.
The two, sitting across from each other Sunday at the downtown Woolworth counter
where four N.C. A&T State University students staged a sit-in Feb. 1, 1960, were acting
their parts in an upcoming film "We The People of North Carolina."
A 15-minute film produced by Steven Chan-
ning, a Chapel Hill filmmaker and historian, it
will be shown to North Carolina eighth-graders
beginning in October.
The sit-in story is the second segment of a
three-part film. The first vignette, a re-creation of the 1917 fight for women's suffrage,
was filmed Saturday at the Old Capitol in Raleigh. The third, a re-creation of the state's
conflict about seceding from the Union, is
Steven Channing
Hopes film inspires students of both races
scheduled for filming at the Duke Homestead
in Durham Tuesday.
But on Sunday, a Woolworth store that
would normally be closed and empty, buzzed
with lights, cameras and action as the actors
and actresses worked for perfection.
By 2:30 p.m., Jim West had said his line
about black people scrubbing floors nearly a
dozen times. Yet he and the other students —
all seventh- and eighth-graders from Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Raleigh — perked up
each time they heard "ready on the set."
Perhaps for some it was merely a chance at
stardom. But for others, the historical significance registered clear.
"Some white students don't really understand how blacks suffered through those
years," said Jim, a rising eighth-grader at Li-
gon Junior High School and whose father,
James West, attended A&T in 1960 and participated in the sit-ins. "I think this will really be
provocative and inform whites and blacks."
Katherine Rogers, a rising seventh-grader
at Daniels Middle School, said the film is good
and has made her think more about race relations.
Ima Edwards doesn't need the film to think
(See Woolworth's, B2)
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| Full text | Field recordist John Santa, with headphones, and cam- actors, from left, Stephanie Schlosser, Jim West and era -nan Warren Gentry set up a scene Sunday with Blake Edwards at Woolworth's on South Elm Street c rilm recreates Woolworth sit-ins By LAURIE WILLIS Staff Writer After being told that only white people could eat hamburgers and drink milkshakes at the downtown Woolworth lunch counter in 1960, Katherine Rogers, 12, of Raleigh was puzzled. "You mean black people couldn't even come in here?" she asked. "Sure they could, to wash the floors," replied Jim West, 12, also of Raleigh. The two, sitting across from each other Sunday at the downtown Woolworth counter where four N.C. A&T State University students staged a sit-in Feb. 1, 1960, were acting their parts in an upcoming film "We The People of North Carolina." A 15-minute film produced by Steven Chan- ning, a Chapel Hill filmmaker and historian, it will be shown to North Carolina eighth-graders beginning in October. The sit-in story is the second segment of a three-part film. The first vignette, a re-creation of the 1917 fight for women's suffrage, was filmed Saturday at the Old Capitol in Raleigh. The third, a re-creation of the state's conflict about seceding from the Union, is Steven Channing Hopes film inspires students of both races scheduled for filming at the Duke Homestead in Durham Tuesday. But on Sunday, a Woolworth store that would normally be closed and empty, buzzed with lights, cameras and action as the actors and actresses worked for perfection. By 2:30 p.m., Jim West had said his line about black people scrubbing floors nearly a dozen times. Yet he and the other students — all seventh- and eighth-graders from Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Raleigh — perked up each time they heard "ready on the set." Perhaps for some it was merely a chance at stardom. But for others, the historical significance registered clear. "Some white students don't really understand how blacks suffered through those years," said Jim, a rising eighth-grader at Li- gon Junior High School and whose father, James West, attended A&T in 1960 and participated in the sit-ins. "I think this will really be provocative and inform whites and blacks." Katherine Rogers, a rising seventh-grader at Daniels Middle School, said the film is good and has made her think more about race relations. Ima Edwards doesn't need the film to think (See Woolworth's, B2) |
