International Civil Rights Center and Museum

This new museum which is devoted to the history of the Civil Rights Movement is located in the E.W. Woolworth's store on Elm Street in Greensboro, the original site of the "Greensboro Four" protest.

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• Lesson plan: Civil rights protests and dilemmas In this lesson, students will discuss well-known civil rights protests in the context of personal risk. They will also listen to two oral histories where individuals tell a story about a protest, or personal risk, they took in order to promote equality for African Americans.
• Lesson plan: Experiences of the Civil Rights Movement: A roundtable project This activity allows students to participate in a roundtable discussion by taking on the persona of someone who lived and experienced the Civil Rights Movement. By participating in a role playing simulation, students are more able to achieve higher-level thinking skills and, as a result, hopefully be able to think more critically about the Civil Rights Era.
• Lesson plan: A living timeline of civil rights This fifth grade lesson plan is one piece of a civil rights unit. This particular lesson is an opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge of a specific person or event that occurred during the civil rights movement. The students will share their research with others as they take on the role of a museum artifact.
• Civil Rights Digital Library Provides primary resources and other education materials to help the public understand the civil rights movement, a struggle in racial equality
• Greensboro Sit-ins: Launch of a Civil Rights Movement Hear the stories of those who participated in the Greensboro Sit-ins. Historical images and newspaper accounts will give users a feel for the era and the significance of the sit-ins.
• The Greensboro sit-ins Marvin Sykes, Greensboro Record reporter, wrote this story about North Carolina A&T College students protesting the "white only" lunch counter at the E.W. Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 2, 1960.

Related pages

• Greensboro Historical Museum: Discover the rich history of Greensboro and the North Carolina Piedmont at the Greensboro Historical Museum.
• Sit-ins: On February 1, 1960, four African American students in Greensboro, North Carolina, took whites-only seats at a department store lunch counter. Their nonviolent protest launched a nationwide movement of "sit-ins" to fight Jim Crow laws.
• The Greensboro sit-ins: Contemporary newspaper coverage of the Greensboro sit-ins, February 1, 1960. Includes historical background and commentary.

Related topics

• Learn more about African-Americans, Guilford County, North Carolina, civil rights, history, protests, and segregation.

Legal

Walk by the old Woolworth’s store in downtown Greensboro today and you will realize that something exciting is happening inside. Fifty years ago, on February 1, 1960, four young black men walked into Woolworth’s and sat down on the stools at the “whites only” lunch counter in protest to segregation. More and more black students followed in their steps and Woolworth’s desegregated their lunch counters nationwide.

It is fitting on this 50th anniversary of this protest, that the new International Civil Rights Center and Museum should open on the very site that Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond took a stand against segregation. The Center will hold its grand opening on February 1, 2010.

The lunch counter and stools are the focal point of the Center and they have never been removed from this spot. In addition there are 14 exhibits that tell the story of the struggle for civil rights. There is also an archival center, a state-of-the-art auditorium, and a children’s event space. The Center’s website has a fact sheet highlighting the exhibits.

The Center is located at 301 North Elm Street and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00am to 6:00pm and on Sunday, 1:00pm to 5:00pm. For groups of 20 or more, a $1 discount will be given toward the price of tickets. To schedule a visit, call (336) 274-9199.

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