New book on the historic sit-ins

              tunebook on the historic sit-inA
>oro Daily News, Sunday, Ji
^Y WILLIAM D. SNIDER
Editor, Daily News & Record
Miles Wolff, Jr.,  son of the I
I former executive news editor of |
■ this newspaper, has written i
1 remarkably   perceptive   b o o 1
I abut the Greensboro lunch- I
I counter sit-ins of 10 years ago I
J (Lunch At The 5 & 10, Stein and f
I Day, $5.95).
Young Wolff, a graduate of |
I Johns Hopkins recently re-
I turned from military service,
I chose the subject for his mas- I
I ter's thesis at the University of I
I Virginia. Later he expanded it I
J into what he calls "a contempb- I
I rary history."
Contemporary it is — today's
racial   trauma   may   be   at   a
I different stage but its essence is
I much the same. And history it I
I is also — for Mr.  Wolff has I
I probed beneath the surface to |
fa look at the people and issue;
I fascinating detail.
o n -s c e n e witness to I
I these events from a vantage I
I point as associate editor Of the I
I Daily News 10 years ago, I must I
I testify to the author's success in I
I catching both the feel of the I
j community and the principal I
4 characters in the drama.
A Business City
Greensboro, as this young a
Ithor describes it, is "a business I
■ city, controlled by businessman I
I. . . Greensboro had its country I
■ clubs and debutante ball (signifi- I
Icantly enough, not started until I
11951), but it had little of the I
I tradition of the Old South, other I
I than its share of Southern hospi- 1
I tality and graciousness. And the ]
I influx of new people and t
I mendous growth of the city gave I
"■ more of the u. losphere of the J
orth than >f a traditional |
| Southern town ..."
Wolff goes on to acknowledge I
I that Greensboro "had many of I
I the Southern attitudes on race, I
y in the city prided I
e 1 v e s on their liberal I
n g and The New York |
I Times wrote during the sit-ins:
I "The views of the white in this
I traditionally moderate city of I
I 120,000 are mixed and run from I
I what might be called Northern |
| liberal to Southern adamant.'
Mr. Wolff's sketches of the I
I people thrown suddenly into this I
I unexpected maelstrom reflect I
™ their diverse views; they pro- I
J vide the book's drama.
The heroes, if any — in addi-
I tion to the four black A&T fresh- |
■ men who walked into Wool-
I worth's on the first Monday of I
I February i960 and sat down at I
I the lunch counters — are two |
I white   men  utterly  diverse  i
| background and temperament.
One
ic, big-
I proprietor
I black youL.1 ™
I Johns' role at the time was not
I widely known. The Wolff book
I pinpoints it in detail.
A leader's difficulties
.    The other is Edward R. Zane,
I city councilman and top official
I of Burlington Industries,  who
■ stepped in at a turbulent mo-
I ment to provide courageous
■ leadership. Mr. Zane's role has
I been widely publicized, but this
I book relates in detail how valua-
| ble his services were. It also
I illuminates the difficulties en-
I countered by any traditional
I leader when he attempts to
make the rigors of change more
bearable. ,
Wolff's book succeeds because
he expends great effort in examining the nuances of community
I opinion and pressures. None of
his characters are wholly saints
r rogues; they are mostly peo-
le and the author has caught
I them in their complexities and
| frustrations.
In retrospect,-— and especial-
I ly for the youth of today — it
;S unbelievable that 10 years
I ago Greensboro restaurants and
I variety store lunch counters
i unwilling to serve black
I customers. Yet that was true all
| over the South.
(Most white Greensburghers
I have forgotten that only two
I years earlier in 1958 the Guil-
1 ford County Interracial Commis-
■ sion, in its 50th year, was ousted
I from the Greensboro United
I Fund after fund leaders decided
I that some citizens were refusing
1 to contribute because they ob-
I jected to the group. Out of an
1 annual budget of over $759,000,
I the commission had asked for
I $250.)
Why was the Southern custom
I of segregated public accommo-
I dations so difficult to change?
The answers lie deep in the
I white-black syndrome of the Old
I South and undoubtedly they are
I complicated.   But   in   hindsight
The counter revolution
historians will have difficulty
excusing the procrastination and
blindness of the white man —
yes, his callousness and lack of
sensitivity — toward the person-
hood of his brother.
The economic squeeze
Wolff shows that not until the
economic squeeze produced
painful results — not until the
black boycott exerted its pressure — did the variety stores
agree to come around. Their
argument was a familiar one
still in vogue whenever difficult
changes seem necessary: They
did not want to be in the vanguard of change; they feared
the impact of change upon their
businesses. The easiest solution
was to stand pat until the young
people (not so burdened down
by adult responsibilities) showed
the way.
The moral Issue
Some community factions
were concerned about the moral
issue; but except-for a handful
of leaders, very few whites fell
in line under that banner. (It is
interesting that Councilman
Zane's boss, the late J. Spencer
Love — a man of considerable
vision in many areas—sent him
a letter firmly backing his efforts: "Congratulations and
thanks on continuing to take the
leadership in the lunch counter
situation problem. Please consider me in reserve, and if there
is any way you know of that I
can be helpful let me know.")
Zane found himself exposed to
all manner of harassment from
Klan elements who immediately
entered the fray and made their
pressure felt. Only the
fulness of the dedicated Greens- I
boro Police Department, under I
its   Chief   Paul   Calhoun,   kept I
diverse elements from explodin
on each other.
In many ways the behavior of I
the police force refl'
Greensboro's inherent s
balance, even when the fire I
grew hottest. The community I
contained enough character and I
common sense to see the moral I
obtuseness of segregated lunch I
counters operating side-by-side I
with integrated merchandis<
counters. Against students pro- I
testing such manifestly obvious I
injustice,, harsh repression or |
even "business as usual"
could not long prevail. Because I
there was enough worry about I
the moral issue underneath the I
economics, the xfour black students succeeded. Their move- I
ment spread like a forest fire |
across the South.
History's lessons
So young Miles Wolff has giv- I
en us an important piece of I
contemporary history in oi
backyard — written while the I
facts were still available and I
with a steady hand and percep- I
tive eye.
"Those who do not learn from I
history," goes the old aphorism, I
"are destined to repeat it."
Let those grappling with' some |
of the currently heated i
profit from the perspective of I
the lunch counter sit-ins. There I
are lessons enough here, 10 I
years later, for both whites and I
blacks — and especially for
those inclined to accept the privileges of their own position with |
an uncritical eye.