This NC site was crucial to the Civil Rights Movement. It was just named a historic landmark
An iconic North Carolina building that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement is now officially a historic landmark.
The F.W. Woolworth Company Building in Greensboro was recently designated as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.
The building was the site of historical sit-ins by the Greensboro Four, an effort during the Civil Rights Movement that sparked similar sit-ins around North Carolina and a national movement that led more than 700,000 students, clergy members and others to fight for racial equality.
What happened during the sit-ins?
On Feb. 1, 1960, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan and Joseph McNeil, four Black students from N.C. A&T State University, visited the F.W. Woolworth department store’s lunch counter to protest against the business for serving lunch only to white customers, The News & Observer has previously reported.
The group entered the Woolworth store in downtown Greensboro to buy school supplies, with a plan to challenge the store’s racial inequalities. They knew they would be allowed to buy the supplies, but they also knew that the lunch counter in the store would turn them away for being Black.
The four planned to make the argument that if the store was willing to take their money for school supplies, then they could also take their money at the lunch counter. When the store refused, the police were called and the four stood their ground, staying at the counter until the business closed.
The men, which later became known as the Greensboro Four, returned daily and read at the lunch counter with a growing number of others joining their protests.
They continued to hold a peaceful protest despite being insulted, hit with water balloons, having counter-protests formed against them and bomb threats being made.
Nearly six months later, on July 26, 1960, Woolworth agreed to integrate the lunch counter, with many other businesses doing the same.
Source: newsobserver.com/news/politics-government
How to visit the Greensboro lunch counter
The site is now home to the International Civil Rights Center & Museum (134 S. Elm St. in Greensboro). It includes the restored, original lunch counter, along with 35,000 square feet of exhibit space with original artifacts, interactive exhibits and powerful narratives.
In April 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris visited and took a seat at the lunch counter before touring more of the museum with officials, The N&O previously reported.
The moment — the first Black vice president of the United States sitting at the same lunch counter where four Black students peacefully protested for civil rights decades prior — was captured in photos and gained national attention.
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The museum is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday. You can buy tickets online for tours ranging from $15-$20. Learn more at sitinmovement.org.
Danielle Battaglia’s reporting contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM with the headline "This NC site was crucial to the Civil Rights Movement. It was just named a historic landmark."
