The Greensboro Sit-ins

Taking place in Greensboro, North Carolina, were a series of non-violent protests known as The Greensboro Sit-ins. The first, was conducted by young African American students at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960. This sparked a sit-in movement that spread to college towns throughout the region. Even though many of the young protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct, or disturbing the peace, their actions did not go unnoticed. These actions had an immediate and lasting impact which forced many establishments, including Woolworth's, to change their segregation policies.

The four young black men who staged the first sit-in in Greensboro were Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil. They were all students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. Soon they became known as the "Greensboro Four".
                        
On February 1, 1960, the four students sat down at the lunch counter at the Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro, where the official policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. The media had been alerted and arrived to cover the events on television. The “Greensboro Four” stayed put until the store closed, then returned the next day with more students from local colleges.

By February 5, about 300 students had joined the protest at Woolworth’s, halting the lunch counter and other local businesses. Due to the television coverage, this sparked a sit-in movement that spread quickly to college towns throughout the South and into the North. Young blacks and whites joined in various forms of peaceful protest against segregation in many establishments. By the end of March the movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. National media coverage of the sit-ins brought increasing attention to the struggle for civil rights for African Americans.

In response to the success of the sit-in movement, dining facilities across the South were being integrated by the summer of 1960. At the end of July, when many local college students were on summer vacation, the Greensboro Woolworth’s finally integrated its lunch counter. 

References

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in

http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-legacy/freedom-struggle-2.html

https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22270

Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges First Day of School as portrayed by Norman Rockwell

                                                                  Ruby Bridges
       Despite the Supreme Court ruling to desegregate schools after the case of Brown v. the Board of Education, schools in the South still fought to remain segregated. After the ruling took place in 1954, most schools in the South resisted integration; schoolboards, parents of white children, and administrators fought to keep their schools segregated. Finally, in 1960, the federal court ordered Louisiana to desegregate its schools, causing an uproar and an upsurge of violence in the state. The schools created entrance exams and other barriers to try to prevent black children from going to white schools, and made the entrance exams very difficult to pass. Ruby Bridges was about to enter first grade at the time of the federal mandate to integrate schools in 1960. Instead of going to the school right down the road from her, she had to travel miles away to attend an all-black school. When the exams were introduced, her parents were wary of her taking it fearing it would start trouble; however, they relented, and  Ruby Bridges was one out of six black students in her school to pass the entrance exams (Boyd, 2013).
       Ruby Bridges was the first black child to integrate a white elementary school in the South, and on November 14, 1960, she was to have her first day of school at the elementary school down the road from her. At the age of six, she was the first black student at the all-white William Frantz Elementary School. On her first day, US marshals had to escort her to the school. The same kind of mob that met the Little Rock 9 outside of their high school was there to meet the 6 year old. The mob of white protestors screamed profanities, threw objects, and spit on her as she walked into the elementary school escorted by US marshals. The school was in such an uproar that instead of being escorted into her new classroom, Ruby Bridges was taken to the principal’s office where she remained all day the first day and the second. Parents refused to send their kids to the elementary school, and teachers refused to have Ruby in their classroom. Only one teacher, Barbra Henry from Boston, volunteered to have her as the sole student in her classroom. Ruby’s teacher and parents helped her through this grueling time; most of the school was empty because parents refused to send their kids there now that a black student was in the vicinity, and mobs were outside of the school protesting daily. The atmosphere of the school was so stressful that Ruby would have frequent nightmares and would not be able to eat lunch at school. Her teacher, Barbra Henry, after a month or two was able to convince Ruby to eat with her. After a year, white students slowly began to trickle back into the elementary school again, and eventually became used to Ruby Bridges presence. Ruby graduated from that elementary school and then attended an integrated high school in New Orleans (Boyd, 2013).

     Ruby Bridge’s experience shows us the strength of racism and the opposition of integration in the South. Her experience shows us that despite Supreme Court rulings, individual states can work around laws and create barriers to disadvantage certain groups; in this case, it would be black students integrating into white schools. The fact that mobs were formed outside of the elementary school to scare and intimidate a 6 year old child shows how great the opposition was by white Southern parents to integrate schools. How could a 6 year old create such a violent reaction from so many people? Ruby Bridges, the first black child to integrate a white elementary school in the South, changed America just by getting ready for school that day in 1960 (Boyd, 2013).

This picture depicts Ruby Bridges as she is escorted in by US Marshals to her new elementary school.

Boyd, Herb. "Ruby Bridges: The First Black Child to Intergrate a White School in
     the South." New York Amsterdam News, 10 Oct. 2013, pp. 32-33. Academic
     Complete.

NAACP Involvement in Desegregating Schools

On May 17, 1954 the decision of Brown vs BOE was determined and ruled segregation in schools unconstitutional.  With their major role in the case, the NAACP was now expected to take part in all issues concerning segregations in school from there fourth.  But on the contrary, the NAACP would prefer not having to go to court over any issues, especially those involving the schools.  But the main issue that the NAACP did plan on going to battle against was how this new court order was implemented.  The first steps the NAACP took to guide the implementation of desegregated school was holding a meeting in Atlanta, five days after the Brown vs BOE decision. Which at this meeting they stated that, 

"Having canvassed the situation in each of our states, we approach the future with the utmost confidence . . . We stand ready to work with other law-abiding citizens who are anxious to translate this decision into a program of action to eradicate racial segregation in public education as speedily as possible. In pursuit of our objectives, we will accelerate our community action program to win public acceptance of the Court's desegregation order from all segments of the population . . . we are confident of the support of teachers, parents, labor, church, civic, fraternal, social , business and professional organizations."(Wilkins, The Role..)

With petitions being sent to the schools by the NAACP, they saw Maryland being the best state in overall widespread acceptance of the change over to desegregated schools.  When there was hiring of African American teachers in mixed schools, the NAACP offered protection to them.  Giving them a department that would protect them from racial discrimination and offer a program to advise them on their rights and employment status. The NAACP in February 1955 stated that they would oppose all and any financial aid given to schools that are still segregated.

Works Cited: http://www.crmvet.org/info/5504_naacp_school_deseg.pdf

Wilkins, Roy. "The Role of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in    the Desegregation Process." Social Problems 2.4, Desegregation in the Public Schools (1955): 201-04. Web.