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Another area of society that was still segregated going into the 1960s were restaurants and food service locations. Much like the schools and public transportation, the facilities were separate and completely unequal. In order to protest for the integration of these businesses, on February 1st, 1960, four students at North Carolina A&T College went to a Woolworth's, sat at the "Whites-Only" counter, and asked to be served. This is known as a sit-in. The actions of these students sparked a wave of other student sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the South.
These silent, peaceful protests were met with much anger and violence. Many times these protesters would be verbally and physically attacked by customers of the stores that they were protesting in. Jails were overflowing with students who were arrested for their protests. Some stores decided to close completely to avoid the sit-ins- one store even turned on a fumigation machine full of insecticides to stop a sit-in that was currently underway. |