Transcripts For CSPAN3 1960 Lunch Counter Sit-Ins 20240712 :

CSPAN3 1960 Lunch Counter Sit-Ins July 12, 2024

,. ,. We decided to walk to the counter and without a single word that is how it happened. But we took a seat. University professor speaks to us about the lunch counter sit in. So who were the greensboro for and why did they decide to sit down at that counter and that february day in 1960. Thank you for having me those were four young men who are college freshman, at North Carolina at the state university. Three of them had already met in high school. So they already had a report, they met the fourth as a freshman in college. So actually when thinking about Racial Injustice is theyd think about that how to integrate how to push the movement along for sometime now but it wasnt until, Joseph Mcneil is returning to school after christmas break in 1959, when he refused to neil, and train terminal. He was trying to buy a hotdog. And he gets back to campus, and he is emboldened. He says enough is enough. So him in his four friends, decide that they are going to target the wool worse, and go have a seat in. What i found interesting, is why will worse . Well worse was a five and dime store, that many people of a certain age still remember it was a chain Discount Department store. And it was recognizable because it was a chain across the United States and so there is a way in which you can recognize and see yourself and if you wanted to replicate a Similar Movement you could. But also will worse like Many Department stores at the time, operated a very contradictory policy when it came to African Americans. They were free to enter brows and purchase, however they were not allowed to eat at the lunch cower or lunch counter or other facilities they couldnt try on a return close, they were denied credit they could be provided and even our Unequal Service at any moment. And will worth becomes a place that is very visible for showcasing the way through discrimination and segregation at the time, and it also then for them could be one of the most ideal places to dismantle the system of Racial Injustice. What was the segregation you know we are talking six years after the board of education what was it like in retail and shopping. So in 1954 you know there is a huge moment when the brown versus the board of education decision comes down, out out basically it overturns the 1896 decision, that had stipulated that a separate school was constitutional. After the decision, the desegregation of schools was slow. Extremely slow. Very little was done. Yes we have in december of 1955, rosa parks between the end of that movement, in 1956, to 1960 very little had changed. And i think, there was a generation of, students and these are generation of students, you know when emmett till was beautifully what was terribly lynched. So when they were watching the montgomery bus boycott, and emmett till being lynched, you dont so when they want to get something to eat, and a lunch counter it self was a symbol of racism. It was a symbol of how the country you know how stores and how among marketplace, showed lacks a second class citizens. Feel she is a assistant professor, at the university of massachusetts amherst. We are talking about the protests in the 1960s in greensboro. And we are being joined by our friends at American History tv. We are inviting you to join the conversation if you are in the eastern or central time zones you can call us. We have a separate line for sitin participants, so if you are a member of those days, of those citizens, but seven for eight 8002 we would love to hear from you as we go about this hour, you know professor parker, why did this movement become the one, that gets pointed to. The greensboro protests in particular, why is the one you know this wasnt the first lunch counter protest, there had been other sittings that had happened going back to the forties and fifties so why is this is one gets pointed to . I guess theyre in a historical moment, and there is an energy and sort of desire you know first were in a moment, after second world war, and African Americans have now been located to urban centers theyre making more money theyre educated and so the time is right and then we have the emmett till, the montgomery busboy. They show us the tragedies of the movement. The everyday realities for African Americans. But also the possibility. And i think for those Young Students they were tired. They were frustrated. I know that the games were all for the greensboro for mention that they were not only motivated by emmett till. Also the bus from least from rosa parks. But listening to them speak also partner king, about non violence and about the injustices of the world really motivated these young men and so while they are having this conversation at their university the women over Bennett College which is a black Womens College they are having similar conversations because there is an energy and a conversation going on and this seems to be the moment in which to do it. Talk about a moment where the federal government is arguably more supportive of civil rights than it has been probably since since the reconstruction the years between 1855 and 1877. How long did the greensboro citizen last, and how did it start spreading to other cities . So it lasted six months, and ended july 25th. It ends after the lunch counter had lost about 200,000 dollars which would be equivalent to maybe two billion today they decide to integrate while the College Students are on summer break. It was when they had left the College Students on summer break it was the High School Students who took over and it continued and finally the manager of well worth said he was going to have three of his black workers dressed in their sunday best and sit down at lunch counter and so by the time the College Students get back, things you know business could return to normal. I mean ago you mentioned the womans college, in greensboro and who is esther. Doctor esther she helped organize sit in and she was a University Student at the college and she speaks quite openly about how she was influenced not only by her colleagues the other women, after college but also by her professor and by the president of the university. And its through encouragement they participated in this and she participated and, she was actually arrested at 1. 1 but shes gone to be a leader of what historians called the second student movement. Whereby students were not concerned about public accommodations, but about integrating university, making sure that there was more black students in college, that there was more black faculty, and not only that but the curriculum reflects the diverse population that they are hoping these universities will have. So she will to massachusetts, after getting her degree in south carolina, and there she earns a ph. D. In american literature, and helps chairs, the faculty of america African American studies, which im a member of, and she helped found one of the first black studies program in the United States. Places where they have talked about her, participating in there is an oral history interview, and its available online. It its entirety. But just a clip i want to show them just clip of that interview. I think its important to know that, will worse became you know you know you could go into a worse, it was not closed to black patronage is all. You could go into a worse you could buy anything the you want but you couldnt down to get a sandwich at the lunch counter you can see down there to eat and i think we might have been you know i feel proud honestly. I dont think my mother, ever felt proud like that, but i think she was more terrified. I know that now because i have a child i think as a mother i would be afraid but i was a proud to sit there. I was very very proud i will tell you something else, i never ever understood the hatred that came it was absolutely surprising because i did not understand why people would glared us with such hatred. That was a little unnerving. But i was basically very proud to have done that. Esther terry. Traci parker, she talked about her mother being fearful of the danger she was in. Could you talk about the reaction to the lunch counter sit in. The reaction is mixed. When these men first get to the lunch counter on the very first day, they encounter a white waitress who tells them that we dont serve africanamericans here. That white righteous waitress gets frazzled, so she calls over a black waitress who quickly tells them that you are making trouble and instructs them to leave. You would assume by that statement that perhaps she was antiprotest. But i think in reality what she is, she is scared. She is scared of what could happen to these young men, she is scared of what could possibly happen to herself. So you see that type of sentiment going on, but increasingly as the Movement Goes on, these four men, this movement itself, receives immense support from the surrounding community, from the black community. If they were not sitting in at the lunch counters i should say that this movement was not simply at the Woolworths Department store. It eventually spread to cress and company, another five and dime. For those who arent sitting in, it may have been the parents who may have been their pastors, their teachers, those folks participate in the way of an economic boycott. What they are doing is, holding their dollars from these stores until the stores make substantial change. Together it is the sit in, it is the notoriety that is being televised and reported, and it is the economic war, that is damaging store profits and reputations that is central, integral to making change in these places. Professor traci parker as our guest this morning with the university of massachusetts amherst. Should also note, her book, Department Stores and the black Freedom Movement,. This hour of the washington journal and American History tv. We have that special line for sitin participants and family members. Bonnie is on that line good morning. I wanted to share with you a very vivid memory from when i was 14 years old. I was living in new york city. My friends and i had gone into town to see movies and shop and we came upon a large crowd outside a very popular woolworths. They were chanting, and immediately i signed on, joined the chant. It was 1, 2, 3, 4, dont go into woolworths store. Southern woolworths segregate. At that young age i immediately knew, as a white girl, this was wrong. There was something wrong with our country, which unfortunately i would have to reiterate today. The certain people who started the movement back then and succeeded, of course, with the integration of the lunch counters, we need them again today. You so much. Thanks for the memory. Traci parker . I think that is a typical story. This is why using a woolworths is so important. That you could have such a broad reach from not simply the one woolworths you are protesting against, but also it could connect to others. Now you have a movement in new york city that is supportive, that is an alliance with those trying to integrate these public spaces in the south. These sit ins . The core with the congress of racial equality. It was founded in chicago and one of their major tactics was the sit in. They have been employing the sit in. When the greensboro sit in began, it was local naacp members called the court. With a sense of how you train students to take the attacks, to stay nonviolent, to stay strong, and invited them in for support. What core is also building on is a tradition of black protests in the community. They are drawing not only on black history, but also the Labor Movement. The Labor Movement had been using sit ins in the 1930s not only to rail against unequal, unfair employment treatment, but also to desegregate restaurants as well. Some of them are part of the congress of industrial organizations, the cio. You talk about training. Could you talk about how that worked and what people who are going to sit down at these lunch counters, how they try to prepare . I think nashville is arguably one of the most the students there were the most trained. They were quite meticulous in their preparation for the sit in and what they would do is hold classes. When i teach the sit in movement and my civil rights class, there is a clip in the movie the butler, where the students are in a basement and they are practicing, they are helping each other prepare. You have someone sitting in a chair and a friend of yours is going to act like they are a counterprotesters. And pushed the chair, spit on you, call you racial epithets. It is to prepare one for what could happen, right . We know that from various pictures, from film, from Television News reels that what these protesters went through was, frankly horrific. We have students who had hot coffee thrown in their faces. They were spit on. Milkshakes were thrown on them. They were violently beaten. They were arrested. They were preparing the students for the fact that it might not be physical harm or arrest. It could end in death. Was the idea to not react and continue the tradition of nonviolent protest . Was the idea to hold that chair and stay in that seat for as long as possible . Talk to the goals a little bit when it came to that training. The goal was to stay nonviolent. To adhere to these nonviolent principles that gandhi and Martin Luther king had been touting. Because again, this is important what moment we are in. We are in a moment in which television is big. We are showing students who are just in their sunday best. With their schoolbooks, often times, simply trying to get their schoolwork done. Staying polite, staying nonviolent, and just taking it. Then what the white segregationist look like, they look barbaric. They look angry. They look something as simple as these young men and women wanting a coke or sandwich results in this brutality. It becomes a very convincing argument that africanamericans are in fact firstclass citizens. That they are respectable. That they are dignified. That they are human. That is the work of doing, making this all very visible. February 1, the date greensboro lunch counter protest began. By april 1960, some 77 cities had lunch counter sit ins. That is what we are talking about. Those lunch counterprotests in this hour of washington journal also taking your calls on lines split up regionally. This is kathleen out of california. Good, you are next. Thank you. I am 68 years old. This is my history as well. I found the lunch counter demonstration so moving, so powerful, so effective, so glorious. Honestly, from my perspective i wonder about the movement. I dont see nearly as many peaceful protests any longer. Protest in particular . Why does it affect you so much . Because it was so noble. Because it was so noble. It is exactly what our society should look like. People should eat lunch regardless of their religion or anything. Martin luther king was noble. When i went to public school, who were trained on his words and he was noble. I find so much nobility. I thought we were finding success. From todays perspective, im troubled, very troubled. Professor parker . I think the sentiments that you express are quite common. It is an interesting place we are in. I think what students are doing now are picking up on what was unfinished. Of the Civil Rights Movement. The tactics they are employing are very much those of the 1960s, those of the students. Such as picket lines and sit ins. And really making their presence and voice heard. There are certainly outliers who have taken a different approach. In my view, the core sentiments, the core philosophy of king and his supporters, and even of the young men and women participated in lunch counter sit ins, i very much see in protests today. Wisconsin. You are next. Good morning and thanks for cspan. Traci parker, if i wore a hat, my hat will be off to you. I appreciate your being on the program this morning. I am originally from the south, im from mississippi specifically. My contact that i want to bring up is woolworths. Im not going into all of the details about my history, because im in the process of trying to write my memoirs. My experience at woolworth came when i graduated from high school in jackson, mississippi and my mom cannot afford to send me to college. My dad had left the family. I ended up in chicago with my mothers older sister. I ended up there because she was the only one who could afford to send for me and bring me to a different location so i could have an opportunity to go to school. I got a job at woolworths. I thought i had died and gone to heaven. There was no such thing as a black Woman Working in the store of any type in mississippi. I was put on the candy counter and i worked the cashier and everything on the candy counter was my responsibility. I felt really important. That is what really got been going. Giving me that confidence. I think that is what is happening nowadays with all of the animosity toward the races and all. Our children are losing confidence. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak this morning. I hope everything works out for everyone. Memory. Professor parker . Im fascinated by this. I lived in chicago for many years. If you are talking about the woolworth on the south side of chicago, i have pictures at home. What you are also speaking about is the fact that in the south, the other part of discrimination, we speak often about the discrimination against black consumers, but there was also discrimination against africanamerican workers. At woolworths in the south, an africanamerican could not hold a job as a sales worker or as a clerical worker. These were jobs reserved for women. These were status jobs, jobs that gave people a sense of responsibility, they gave people a sense of confidence, as the caller mentioned. So, some sitin movements and i dont have any evidence that happened with the greensboro sitin but there are others such as the one in charlotte

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