Racial Barriers Fall

              Greensboro Daily News, Saturday, May 29,  1971
Racial Barriers Fall
BY JOE KNOX
Paily News Staff Writer
Late in the afternoon of Feb. I
11, 1960, four young Negroes, all
[freshmen at A&T College
I walked into Woolworth's variety
store in downtown Greensboro
I and took seats at the lunch
I counter. By this simple act they
I inspired a movement that was
to   sweep   the   country   almost |
[overnight and mark the begin-
Ining of the end of racial dis-l
crimination in private business |
I catering to the public.
Greensboro has ever s i n c eI
Ibeen known as the birthplace of I
jthe sit-in, the city where it all |
Ibegan.
When the boys first entered I
I the store, they separated and
I went to various counters where
[they bought small, inexpensive
litems. Then they went to the]
lunch counter where they took |
I seats and waited to be served.
The waitress shook her head I
I when  they  tried  to  order   soft
drinks.   The   students   held   up
their sales tickets  and  argued I
that if their money was good at I
other counters in the store, then I
I it should also be good at the]
I lunch counter.
The waitress continued to I
I shake her head. Her meaning
was clear.  Only white people J
could buy things at this particu-
|lar counter.
The students understood welll
I enough. But they continued to I
I sit there until the store closed
about one hour later, and then |
they returned to the A&T, campus.
STUDENTS RETURN
That was the beginning. When I
I the youths returned to the store |
the next afternoon to continue
I the sit-in, they were joined by, |
(other students from A&T. Some
1 went to the next block to sit at
the lunch counter in the Kress
I variety store.
By the following day, sit-ins
I were being staged in cities all
over the South. In Greensboro
the movement gained momentum and Negro demonstrations I
in the midtown area became'
[/almost daily newsmakers.
The four young students who
[originated the idea practically
I dropped  from   sight   as   other
people came forward to lead the
| sit-ins and demonstrations to a
conclusion about five months
later When both variety stores
dropped  racial   bars   at   their
lunch counters.
The four were Ezell Blair Jr.
of New Bedford, Mass.;  David I
I Richmond  of   Greensboro;   Jo-
I seph McNeil of Wilmington; and
I Franklin MoCain of Charlotte.
In a sense, what they started
| was dress rehearsal for a later
I all-out bid to open every place.
, of public accommodation in the
| city to blacks.
Street demonstrations resumed
I late in 1962 following endless
I rounds of talk. White merchants
I stood their ground firmly, insist-
Iing they would invite economic'
ruin if they let down racial bars.
Negro leaders and activist stu-1
dents at A&T and Bennett College faced up to a hard fact of
| life: Nobody was going to freely I
give them anything. If doors
I were to be opened, those doors
| would have to be forced open.
DEMONSTRATIONS  START
Street  demonstrations   invblv-
I mg   hundreds   of   students   and I
townspeople continued on a
fairly  sustained  basis  through- [
out the winter and spring of 1963,
and  brought Greensboro  a  na-1
tional reputation as a—citv of |
I chronic racial unrest. (Jj^?)
The reputation was not entirely I
J deserved, because for all of the
people who demonstrated, and |
the numbers of potentially explosive situations to arise, few
I persons  were  arrested on
charges  arising from  violence.
(Through it all, no one was hurt.
While police made hundreds of
I arrests, practically all of them
Jon   charges  of   trespassing   or
(obstructing traffic,  a  spirit of
good humor prevailed. Students
I invited   arrest  as  a  mark  of
protest and a badge of honor.
There were hotheads on both
sides, black and white, but none
| of them prevailed for long.
The  demonstrations   were!
1 staged by the local chapter of
the Congress for Racial Equali- j
ty,   completely   dominated   by
A&T students. The CORE presi- j
dent was William Thomas,  an
I A&T student.
Jesse Jackson, then president
J of the A&T student body, was a
j principal   spokesman  for   the
I campus  and led many of the
I demonstrations into midtown.   —
While these and other young I
people were highly visible and
vocal, there were many older
Greensboro citizens who worked |
quietly behind the scenes to I
keep the city from exploding in I
violence and restore a calm in I
| w h i c h reasonable discussions |
could take place.
Among these were City Councilman Jimmie I. Barber, thenl
dean of men at A&T;   Mayor!
Jack Elam, then city attorney; [
|the late David Schenck, mayor!
of Greensboro during the peak!
I of demonstrations; Dr. George I
Evans, medical doctor who I
served as chairman of the may-1
of*s Advisory Committee "on'Hu-1
I man Relations.
There was  also  Dr.  George |
I Simkins Jr., dentist, and president of the local chapter of the j
National Association for the I
Advancement of Colored People;
the Rev. Cecil Bishop, pastor of
| Trinity AME Zion Church; and
the Rev. Otis L. Hairston, pastor |
of Shiloh Baptist Church.
W. O. Conrad, Western Elec-1
trie executive, served as first]
| chairman of the Greensboro Hu-|
man Relations Commission; aiij
; aivr
miptr
[another group, with  a simijpir
I function was headed by banker |
I Bland Worley.
FARMER SPEAKS
James Farmer, then national I
I director of CORE, came to town |
j several times to advise the Ne-
| gro community on strategy and |
] tactics. Numbers of other "outsiders" also appeared; but their I
local influence proved to be |
I slight.
While talk continued,  so did I
I the     demonstrations.     They
1 reached  a   climax  in  the  first
week   of   June   as   the   spring
1 semester at the coUgggscame to j
I a close. £^C*?fe3X''
On Tuesday, June a, i)40 stu-1
I dents and townspeople walked I
silently through midtown. Pick-1
ets were spotted in front of the |
|S&W and Mayfair cafeterias.
The  next  day,   about  5001
I marched through town, crossing j
] streets in such a way as to tie I
j up traffic. The march continued
(for 90  minutes,   and  then the
| demonstrators sat down in the
street in front of City Hall. They
I were warned by Police Capt. W. I
j H. Jackson to move away with-1
I in 10 minutes or be arrested.
The following morning, June I
16, Jesse Jackson was arrested
on a charge of inciting to riot as
the leader of the sit-down at
City Hall. M u n i c i p a 1 offices [
I were picketed during the day.
That night, u n c o u n te
hundreds poured into Jefferson
Square and staged a massive
sit-down, completely blocking
traffic. Police arrested 284,. put
them in buses and took them to
War Memorial Coliseum where
they were booked on cijaxges of
obstructing traffic. (7u^^\
1,800 ARRESTm—^
From early winter of 1962
through that date (June 6, 1963)
more than 1,800 arrests had
been made by Greensboro police
in connection with street demonstrations and sit-ins. The pro-
tests then were specifically
aimed at public accommoda-
t i o n s, especially restaurants,
theaters and motels, all relatively easy and obvious targets.
The demonstration in Jefferson Square was the last one
of the series. The next day,
Mayor Schenck made an impassioned appeal for peace in the
city. He had suffered much criticism for not exercising stronger
leadership during the crisis; but
no mayor of any southern city
spoke more pointedly to the issues than did David Schenck on
this day.
". . . . To those establishments whose policy of segregated services are being protested,
let me say this: We recognize
the right under law of the property owner or business proprietor to use his property and conduct his business in any fashion
he- chooses so long as public
safety and morals are not violated.
"But how far must your city
government and your fellow
businessmen go to protect that
right? Must the business of
downtown Greensboro be dis-'
rupted, must the city be brought
to a point of serious explosion,
must extra policeman, sheriffs,
highway patrolmen and even the
National Guard be kept on alert
to enforce your private business decision?
"I say to you who own and
operate places of public accommodation in the city, the hotell
motels and restaurants, that
now is the time to throw aside
the shackles of past custom.
"Selection of customers by
race is outdated, morally unjust
and not an keeping wltto either,
democratic or Christian philosdf
Phy. ,."