Sit-in movement

The sit-in movement, sit-in campaign, or student sit-in movement, was a wave of sit-ins that followed the Greensboro sit-ins on February 1, 1960, led by students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical Institute (A&T).^[1] The sit-in movement employed the tactic of nonviolent direct action and was a pivotal event during the Civil Rights Movement.^[2]

Sit-in movement
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	United States
Caused by	Racial segregation in public accommodations Reaction to the Greensboro sit-ins
Parties
Student activists Segregated businesses

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.^[3] The students of Baltimore made use of this in 1960 when 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 as it saw bus and taxi companies hiring African Americans in 1951–1952.^[4] Sit-ins also frequented segregated facilities in Oklahoma City between 1958 and 1964.^[5]

Students at Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland, successfully deployed sit-ins and other direct action protest tactics against lunch counters in the city since at least 1953. One notable successful student sit-in occurred in 1955 at Read's Drug Store.^[6] Despite also being led by students and successfully resulting in the end of segregation at a store lunch counter, the Read's Drug Store sit-in would not receive the same level of attention that was later given to the Greensboro sit-ins.^[7] Two store lunch counter sit-ins which occurred in Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1958 also proved successful, and would employ tactics that were in fact similar to the future Greensboro sit-ins.^[8][9] 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 student’s efforts, but more importantly, white involvement and support grew in favor of the desegregation of department store restaurants.^[10]

Sit-ins were by far the most prominent in 1960, however, they were still a useful tactic in the civil rights movement in the years following. In February 1961, students from Friendship Junior College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, organized a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. The students were then arrested and refused to pay bail. This was part of their "Jail, No Bail" strategy,^[11] they instead decided to serve jail time as a demonstration of their commitment to the civil rights movement.

An additional important event in the process of granting civil rights was the sit-ins that occurred in Albany, Georgia. These sit-ins were useful tactics that started in December 1961. They used sit-ins, boycotts, and marches to achieve their goal of ending segregation in public facilities. The Freedom Rides of 1961 also played a crucial role, with activists. Participating in sit-ins at segregated bus terminals across the South to challenge segregation in interstate transportation. This and other strong actions helped propel momentum and eventually helped lead to the removal of segregation laws in the United States.^[12]

The sit-ins in Greensboro invigorated U.S. civil rights movements by reinforcing the success of other protests like the Montgomery bus boycott, which had shown how effectively a mass of people could change public opinions and governmental policies.^[13]