# Canonical recap data for Sit-In Movement Sweeps the South (1960)
# Source: https://recap.at/1960/sit-in-movement
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: sit-in-movement
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1960/sit-in-movement"
title: Sit-In Movement Sweeps the South
subtitle: Black college students occupied segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, igniting a youth-driven civil rights offensive that transformed American politics.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1960-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1960
decade: 1960
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: 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). Sit-ins challenging raci
summaryLong: 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). 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. 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. The sit-in movement employed the tactic of nonviolent direct action and was a pivotal event during the Civil Rights Movement.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Civil_Rights_protesters_and_Woolworth%27s_Sit-In%2C_Durham%2C_NC%2C_10_February_1960._From_the_N%26O_Negative_Collection%2C_State_Archives_of_North_Carolina%2C_Raleigh%2C_NC._Photos_taken_by_The_News_%26_%2824495308926%29.jpg/1280px-thumbnail.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Sit-in movement"
importance: 75
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sit-in_movement"
  title: Sit-in movement
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- protest
- revolution
metaDescription: 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 student
wikidataQid: Q30325637
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260629210425/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sit-in_movement"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-29
  label: Sit-in movement
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sit-in_movement"
