Sit-in movement

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.

The sit-in movement took place during the 1960s, but sit-ins were occurring all over America many years before then. The idea for sit-ins first stemmed from the sit-down strikes during the labor movement. Due to the success of sit-down strikes, similar peaceful protest tactics were used to fight for civil rights. Some of the most influential sit-ins prior to the sit-in movement occurred in Chicago, Illinois in 1943. These sit-ins led by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) set a prime example of how sit-ins work and why they are effective.

African-American college students attending historically Black colleges and universities in the United States powered the sit-in movement. Many students in the United States followed their example, as sit-ins provided a powerful tool for students to use to attract attention. While they were often under-recognized, Black women played a significant role in organizing these efforts, particularly at Bennett College, where they helped organize sit-ins, plan meetings, and provide guidance to other participants, contributing to the movement's early growth. The students of Baltimore made use of this in 1960 when many used the efforts to desegregate department store restaurants, which proved to be successful lasting about three weeks. This was one small role Baltimore played in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The city facilitated social movements as it saw bus and taxi companies hiring African Americans in 1951–1952. Sit-ins also frequently occurred in segregated facilities in Oklahoma City between 1958 and 1964.

Students at Morgan State College in Baltimore, Maryland, successfully deployed sit-ins and other direct action protest tactics against lunch counters in the city since 1953. One successful student sit-in occurred in 1955 at Read's Drug Store. Despite also being led by students and successfully resulting in the end of segregation at a store lunch counter, the Read's Drug Store sit-in did not receive the same level of attention that was later given to the Greensboro sit-ins. Two store lunch counter sit-ins, which occurred in Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1958, also proved successful and employed tactics similar to those of the future Greensboro sit-ins. The local chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality had had similar success. After witnessing the unprecedented amount of visibility that the 1960 sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, gained in the wide-oriented mainstream media, Morgan students (and others, including those from the Johns Hopkins University) continued sit-in campaigns that were already underway at department stores and restaurants near their campus. There were massive amounts of support from the community for the student's efforts, but more importantly, White involvement and support grew in favor of the desegregation of department store restaurants. The students received significant support from the community, and more importantly, White involvement in favor of desegregating department store restaurants grew.

While sit-ins were by far the most prominent in 1960, they continued to be a useful tactic in the civil rights movement in the years that followed. In February 1961, students from Friendship Junior College in Rock Hill, South Carolina, organized a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. Internal organization and coordination among student groups were crucial to the success of sit-ins, allowing for effective planning of protests, communication across campuses, and rapid response to incidents of harassment or arrests. The students were then arrested and refused to pay bail. This was part of their "Jail, No Bail" strategy, they instead decided to serve jail time as a demonstration of their commitment to the civil rights movement. This tactic, which sought to drain city resources and highlight the moral justice of arrests, inspired similar actions across the South and drew national attention to local police brutality.

Another example of sit-ins that were a crucial part of the civil rights movement were the Albany, Georgia sit-ins that started in December 1961. In order to advocate for civil rights and desegregate public facilities in Albany, sit-ins, boycotts, and marches were used. The Freedom Rides of 1961 also played a crucial role, with activists participating in sit-ins at segregated bus terminals across the South to challenge segregation in interstate transportation. This and other strong actions helped propel momentum and eventually helped lead to the removal of segregation laws in the United States.

The sit-ins in Greensboro invigorated U.S. civil rights movements by reinforcing the success of other protests like the Montgomery bus boycott, which had shown how effectively a mass of people could change public opinions and governmental policies.

The sit-in movement was not just about the desegregation of lunch counters. Activists exploded across Southern cities and pressured local courts, forcing judges to rethink policies on public accommodations and the principle of “separate but equal.” Civil rights lawyers exploited such lawsuits to settle the claim that refusal of service in restaurants violates the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause as standards to lay the groundwork for subsequent desegregation demands. The powerful images of peaceful students facing arrest and violence became national news and encouraged popular sympathy. And it was this mounting public pressure that would be instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation in public places and demonstrated that nonviolent protest could indeed drive real progress.