What is a sit-in?

    A sit-in is a form of protest in which people sit down at a public place for their rights and refuse to leave. The first sit-in was on February 1, 1960 in the town of Greensboro, North Carolina. It happened at the lunch counter in a Woolworths department store.

http://www.sitins.com/index.shtml

What was the Greensboro sit-in about?

    Four black college students from the Greensboro Black College protested at a lunch counter of a Woolworth's department store. They were protesting that blacks not being able to sit down at a lunch counter and eat. At the lunch counters, whites were able to sit down on stools while blacks had to stand and eat. The four black students, Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond, first went and bought school supplies and other small things from the department store. Then, they sat down on the plastic stools at 2:00 pm and ordered food. They knew that they wouldn't be served, and they were correct. They were asked to leave imedietly, but refused. While they were sitting, they were burned with cigarettes and smothered with ketchup by whites. They sat there until closing, and then left the store without a word. The sit-in didn't have much of an impact, because the manager wasn't bothered by them just sitting there not buying anything, and he thought that in time they would give up.

    The next day, the four students returned, but with 23 more students. This interested the t.v. and radio stations. Soon, reporters and cameras were swarming around Woolworth's. When other blacks saw what was going on, they began to protests at other stores too. Students were scrambling to get seats at Woolworth's. Sit-ins were commenced all over the South, just in two weeks. Officials from top civil right's angencies listened and organized more sit-ins and protests. Another store became a victim of sit-ins, S.H.Kress. Bombs were threated one Saturday and both stores closed early. Despite all the trouble, the sit-ins raved on. Many lunch counters closed and stores had signs in their windows such as, "No Trespassing".

http://www.everyculture.com/multi/images/gema_01_img0008.http://www.firstyearbook.umd.edu/TMarshall/images/16_student_sitins.jpg

    The sit-ins became so frequent that city officails agreed to close all department stores so they could work on an agreement. Should they integrate the Woolworths? The blacks will not stop coming until they get what they want. But finally, on July 26, 1960, about 6 months after the sit-ins began, Woolworth's intergrated it's lunch counter. The news spread everywhere. Blacks all across the South rejoiced. The integration of the Woolworths also led to non-segregated facilities and other public places such as museums and resteraunts. The integragation of the department stores helped to bring a step closer to the the end of segregation forever. www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/sit-ins.html

Want to see our Google map? Check us out at http://maps.google.com/?mid=1203545134!

Notes:

www.greenborohistory.org/exhibits/exhibits_sitins.html

www.pbs.org/independentlens/februaryone/sitin.html

www.sitins.com/story.shtml

www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/sit-ins.html

Our Georgia Flag:

    The Confederate Battle flag should be on Georgia's flag to represent our heritage, not racism. We are honored to live where the brave Confederate fighters were born. We are not trying to be racists, we should be allowed to honor those who died. In 1956, the flag was changed to the Confederate Battle flag when John Sammons Bell wanted to change it. The flag was changed because Bell though it would be good to have a new state flag that would incorporate the Confederate Battle Flag.

    Our Georgia flag should have the Confederate Battle flag on it because we are proud of our heritage. We know taht the Confederate flag may also be considered as a racist symbol, but slavery is wrong and we want to honor those who died in the Civil War. We are not ashamed of our heritage and we don't think of the Confederate Battle flag as a racist symbol. It is a heritage symbol to us.