In Today's News

50 Years Ago Today -- The Greensboro Four

On February 1st, 1960, four black college students attending North Carolina A&T staged a sit-in at Woolworth's whites-only lunch counter.

It was to be the first of many such sit-ins that culminated in the July 1960 desegregation of that lunch counter, but also spurred young African-Americans to more than 70 sit-ins in 15 cities and 5 states across the south. Greensboro, North Carolina became one of the major catalysts of the Civil Rights Movement.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the second darkest era in our nation's history. (The era of war on Native Americans is a topic for another time.) To this day, the United States has not again seen any people group as down-trodden as the African-Americans of the Pre-Civil War era through the 1960's. There are still instances of persecution, racism, and prejudice; there is ignorance in every culture that breeds hatred against other perceived inferior groups. But it seems that we have grown enough, matured enough as a nation that we can honestly say that all people truly are created equal, and that the ignorant are the minority. They may still have a voice, as protected by the First Amendment, but the voices of the majority are louder. The voices that say to everyone, "You are my brothers and sisters, we are equal in all, and we will work together to make this a place of freedom and peace."

So we celebrate the "pioneers" who took a stand against the tyranny, and who empowered others to do the same. The heroes who used non-violent protest as a vehicle to show us that the human spirit is stronger than any hate, any ignorance, and it can rise above, lifting us out of the shadows.

Inspirational barely describes it.