The Greensboro Four chose a strategy of nonviolence, which made it easy for others to rally to their cause. They showed great physical courage and perseverance, which allowed the spark they had struck to catch and spread. And they sought inclusion in an America that had made them second-class citizens, which helped America become what it had pretended to be.

I knew the story of the Sit-ins. I knew the pride this city takes in this piece of local history. But I did not know how the philosophy of passive resistance had come to the store at the corner of South Elm and Sycamore. I looked at myself, and at my own 17-year-old son, and I wondered, where does a college kid find the strength to risk his life for justice? I was curious about how the men themselves see their roles, and the role of Greensboro itself.

So I asked them.

Happy anniversary, and thank you.

Comments

[Patrick Eakes]

Interesting story I have heard from a reliable source. The white manager of the Woolworths knew the students were coming and decided if any black were to be the first to be served at that counter, it would be a black waitress who worked there. And that is apparently what happened, earlier in the day before the Greensboro Four arrived.

[Hartzman]

I sat next to Frank McCain Jr. for a couple years at Merrill Lynch
in the late 1990's.

Lee Kinard wrote a book...

I hear the Colored only stairs and seats
are still at the Carolina Theater.

I still run into people who say N.....

I run into a whole lot more who don't than ever before
more often.

I know a guy who sometimes says N.....
who voted for Obama and had a sign in his yard.

Greensboro, North Carolina

[Hartzman]

A buddy of mine is dying.

He got stents about 10 years ago when he had health insurance.

Now he doesn't, needs $100,000 of re-fixing,
and won't put his wife through bankruptcy to survive.

Courage seems relative sometimes.