Sit-In Movement Sweeps the South

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 – Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil – at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical Institute (A&T).^¹ Sit-ins challenging racial segregation had taken place in earlier years as well, including demonstrations in the Great Plains region in 1958–1960 and other cities prior to Greensboro.^¹ Even though the Greensboro sit-in was not the first sit-in, it sparked a wave of sit-ins that created the sit-in movement.^¹ The sit-in movement employed the tactic of nonviolent direct action and was a pivotal event during the Civil Rights Movement.^¹