Sit-in movement | |||
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Part of the Civil Rights Movement | |||
Student sit-in at Woolworth in Durham, North Carolina on February 10, 1960 | |||
Date | February 1, 1960 – 1964 | ||
Location | |||
Caused by |
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Parties to the civil conflict | |||
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The sit-in movement, sit-in campaign or student sit-in movement, were a wave of sit-ins that followed the Greensboro sit-ins on February 1, 1960 in North Carolina. The sit-in movement employed the tactic of nonviolent direct action and was a pivotal event during the Civil Rights Movement.[1]
African-American college students attending historically Black colleges and universities in the United States powered the sit-in movement across the country. Many students across the country followed by example, as sit-ins provided a powerful tool for students to use to attract attention.[2] The students of Baltimore made use of this in 1960 where many used the efforts to desegregate department store restaurants, which proved to be successful lasting about three weeks. This was one small role Baltimore played in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The city facilitated social movements across the country as it saw bus and taxi companies hiring African-Americans in 1951–1952.[3]
Students at Baltimore, Maryland's, Morgan State College had successfully deployed sit-ins and other direct action protest tactics against lunch counters in that city since at least 1953. The local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality had had similar success. Witnessing the unprecedented visibility afforded in the white-oriented mainstream media to the 1960 sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, Morgan students (and others, including those from the Johns Hopkins University) continued sit-in campaigns already underway at department store restaurants near their campus. There were massive amounts of support from the community for the students’ efforts, but more importantly, white involvement and support grew in favor of desegregation of department store restaurants.[4]
Start date | Sit-in(s) | Location | Ref. | Notes |
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August 21, 1939 | Alexandria Library sit-in | Alexandria, Virginia | [5][6] | [note 1] |
1943 | Chicago | Chicago, Illinois | [7] | [note 2] |
1953 | Baltimore | Baltimore, Maryland | ||
1954 | Dresden | Dresden, Ontario, Canada | [8] | |
January 20, 1955 | Read's Drug Store | Baltimore, Maryland | [9][10] | [note 3] |
June 23, 1957 | Royal Ice Cream sit-in | Durham, North Carolina | [11] | [note 4] |
July 19, 1958 | Dockum Drug Store sit-in | Wichita, Kansas | [12] | |
August 19, 1958 | Katz Drug Store sit-in | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | [13][12] | [note 5] |
1959 | Miami | Miami, Florida |
Date | Sit-in(s) | Location | Ref. | Notes |
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January 31, 1961 | Rock Hill | South Carolina | [note 14] | |
1962 | Sewanee, Tennessee | [note 15] | ||
May 28, 1963 | Woolworth's | Jackson, Mississippi | [34][35] | [note 16] |
March 7, 1964 | Audubon Regional Library | Clinton, Louisiana | [36] | [note 17] |