One afternoon in 1955, six black men played golf on a whites-only course. What happened next pushed Greensboro toward integration and turned a local dentist into a civil rights icon.
civil rights movement
Saving a Seat to Inspire Change
For Phil Freelon, the architect who designed the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, inspiration comes from the powerful stories behind ordinary objects.
The Story of the Greensboro Four and the Sit-In Movement
When four young men took their seats at a lunch counter more than 60 years ago, they had no intentions of leaving and no idea what would happen. Such a simple act, denied them for so long, reignited the civil rights movement throughout the South. Today, the lunch counter and the seats are preserved at the same South Elm Street location in Greensboro as part of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, giving all of us the chance to experience North Carolina’s place in the movement toward equality.
