On February 1, 1960, Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond, four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) staged a sit-in at Woolworths in Greensboro, NC to protest segregated facilities. This action prompted a response by Edward Raymond Zane, city councilman and Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Community Relations. He wrote to the Greensboro Daily News with five possible suggestions as to how to handle the sit-ins and the larger questions about desegregating facilities. The five options proposed in the Greensboro Daily News were:
"The situation to remain as it is," 2) "The two establishments to remove seats and serve everyone standing," 3) "The two establishments to serve everyone seated," 4) "The two establishments to reserve separate areas for seated white people and seated Negroes," and 5) "The two establishments to discontinue serving food."
In this exhibit, you will see a few responses and a petition advocating for option three, to serve everyone, regardless of race, seated. People of all ages wrote in and signed the petition advocating for desegregation, ranging from school children to a captain of the United States Army.
For further info, please check out this digital collection, courtesy North Carolina A&T University: A&T Four: A Closer Look | Digital Collections | North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
