He worked at Woolworth during famous Greensboro sit-in. Meet ‘The Man Behind the Counter’
In the famous photograph, four Black college freshmen occupy the segregated Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, defiant in their sharp attire, staring back at the camera with the fierceness and grace of men busy changing the world.
But off to the side, a fifth man walks behind them, wearing a busboy’s paper hat and carrying a tray past the soda fountain — an accidental witness to history.
For much of his life, Charles Bess drew little attention for his role in the Greensboro sit-ins of 1960. He was only 22 then, not much older than the protesters themselves.
But as a young Black man, he felt the movement had finally arrived, and excitement quickly pushed past his confusion.
“I remember going home and I wanted to tell my sister about it,” he said last year. “I wanted to tell my brother-in-law about it. Everybody I went to, I wanted to spread the news.”
This story of an overlooked but remarkable bystander unfolds in “The Man Behind the Counter,” a 2024 documentary interview with Bess, who recalls his civil rights experience from the same Woolworth’s lunch counter — now a museum exhibit
The 30-minute film from Winston-Salem playwright and filmmaker Garrett Davis screens Friday afternoon in Chapel Hill, introducing a new generation to Bess and the impact of his brush with weighty events.
Sit-in at the Greensboro Woolworth counter
Davis begins his film by showing a young man around his “Black Room,” a collection of rare glimpses from the Civil Rights Movement: a photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. at a pool table, shooting a behind-the-back shot; Emmett Till riding a bicycle with his cousins.
Then Davis comes to the Greensboro Woolworth’s.
“You ever seen that picture before?” he asks.
“Yeah, This is the infamous Greensboro four,” his young guest replies.
“These are the infamous Greensboro four. But there are five people in the picture. The Man Behind the Counter.”
“People don’t give him enough credit. I knew his name, but it slipped my mind.”
Bess came to Greensboro from Kings Mountain, and in the documentary, he recalls his own experiences with Jim Crow movie theaters and drinking fountains.
At the time of the sit-ins, he had just been promoted from dishwasher to busboy, and he felt stunned and confused to see four students from what is now North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University take seats reserved for whites.
“At first, everybody thought, I did too, that there was four guys was gonna start a mess,” he tells Davis. “We thought that was going on. But that wasn’t so.”
Protesters multiplied in Greensboro, and after the second day, Woolworth’s manager Clarence “Curly” Harris pulled his Black employees aside to ask why the protesters were picking on his store.
The movement grew and spawned widespread boycotts of segregated lunch counters, causing Woolworth’s to lose hundreds of thousands in sales.
Finally, in July, the store reversed its policy and served Black customers rather than continue its segregated stance.
Bess, along with three of his colleagues, got to eat there first.
Protests spark national movement
These protests sparked a nationwide movement, leading to the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh and inspiring tactics that continue even today.
Decades later, Bess would pose for pictures and sign autographs at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, getting noted for his role.
“Every time I see that picture, carrying my bus tray, it’s making me think about the hard work I did here,” he said, now into his late 80s. “I really didn’t have no idea. Here I am, an ordinary bus boy, a low-paying job, and now I’m telling the story about the city movement. It really makes me feel good inside.”
As Davis reminds us in his film, while he introduces his subject, it is easy to forget those lingering quietly in history’s wings. But the camera’s eye catches them just the same, and their stories find a way into the light.
How to watch ‘The Man Behind the Counter’
“The Man Behind the Counter” screens at 1 p.m. Friday at the Seymour Center, 2551 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill. Admission is free.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM.