The Greensboro Sit-In, 1960 (AQA GCSE History)
Revision Note
How Effective was the Sit-in Movement in 1960s America? - Summary
The sit-in movement of the 1960s was a way for civil rights activists to fight against segregation in public places like restaurants. The sit-in movement started when four students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat at a whites-only lunch counter and refused to leave until they were served. This inspired many other students to do the same across the South. By sitting peacefully in segregated public spaces, they showed how unfair the laws were.
The sit-in movement was effective in gaining support for civil rights. The sit-ins got a significant amount of media attention. People across the country saw images of protesters facing violence and discrimination. This made some people angry and more supportive of the fight for civil rights. The sit-ins also inspired other peaceful protests, like freedom rides and marches. This range of peaceful protest methods helped to make progress towards desegregation.
Despite facing challenges, the sit-in movement achieved significant victories. Many businesses ended segregation in their places because of the pressure from the sit-ins and the public. The success of the sit-ins showed that peaceful protests could make the government create laws against segregation. This movement was an important part of the civil rights movement and helped move the USA towards equality.
What Was the Greensboro Sit-In?
Organising the Greensboro Sit-In
CORE and the SCLC sent representatives to Greensboro
They trained the students in how to conduct non-violent protests
By April, representatives created a new civil rights group called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The SNCC believed that protests should:
Be peaceful
Be visible
Not cause the protestor to react angrily back at the police or anti-protestors
The SNCC took responsibility for training students on how to cope with abuse, harassment and violence during a protest
Exam Tip
At this stage of the course, you may be overwhelmed by the amount of abbreviations and civil rights groups. You could create flashcards, testing your knowledge of what each abbreviation stands for. You could also make a revision poster of each civil rights group, their aims and their tactics.
The Significance of the Greensboro Sit-In
The Significance of the Greensboro Sit-In
Reasons for Greensboro’s significance | Explanation |
|---|---|
It spread across the South | A week after the events in Greensboro, sit-ins spread across North Carolina. This led to sit-ins occurring in other southern states. Some Woolworths stores took until 1965 to desegregate. This is despite countless sit-ins occurring in their stores |
Media coverage | The sit-ins were a very public form of protest that attracted media coverage. More people felt able to support civil rights campaigns when it involved peaceful protests |
The motivation of young activists | Many young people were more open-minded to black civil rights. They believed that segregated lunch counters were wrong. Around 50,000 protestors conduct sit-ins by the autumn of 1960 |
Exam Tip
An exam question could ask you to explain in what ways the civil rights movement impacted Americans in the 1950s and 1960s. You could use the Greensboro sit-ins as an example for this question. This is because sit-ins were a very public protest method that impacted both Black and white Americans’ lives.
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