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[50] 2 The Sixties: Joining the Movement In the mid–twentieth century, the United States portrayed itself as the leader of the free world at the same time it segregated its own citizens. In the 1950s, a grassroots civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the social order. In 1960, four black Greensboro college students sat down and asked for service at a Woolworth’s lunch counter. They were denied service and returned the next day with hundreds more students. The sit-in movement caught fire in cities throughout the South and other parts of the nation. Young African Americans overcame the fear that had paralyzed generations of blacks and gave new energy to the civil rights movement. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, the war in Vietnam escalated. As the nightly news reported the rising death toll of American GIs and the destruction of Vietnam, an antiwar movement mushroomed on college campuses. During the exuberant early sixties, new national leaders emerged: John Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy. But hope and enthusiasm turned to anger as assassins took the lives of these national figures and the war ground on. Nelson ■ The sixties was a decade of great hope, high expectations, and energy . A huge number of people got involved in the process of change, and that was revolutionary in itself. Paul ■ We fought against the U.S. military’s war in Vietnam and for civil rights. Martin Luther King Jr. was my hero. Willena ■ The sixties was a brand-new world opening up for me. We didn’t have to take all that stuff from white people anymore. We made changes; everyone was involved, young and old. It was a blossoming time, a learning time about what was really happening in the world. Kwame ■ And in 1968, I was born! Marty ■ The sixties for me was a time of sadness, the deaths of my father and my sister. At the same time, a wonderful movement for social change grew. Never the Twain Shall Meet [51] Sally ■ I joined the civil rights movement in the sixties, and by the end of the decade, I was fighting for women’s liberation as well. Before 1960, Willena, Nelson, Paul, Marty, and I were leading our separate lives. But in the 1960s, we all were affected by the same big events—the Greensboro sit-ins, Kennedy’s election and assassination, the war in Vietnam. We began the journeys that would ultimately bring our lives together. Greensboro Sit-ins, February 1, 1960 Nelson ■ On February 1, 1960, four young men from North Carolina A&T College walked into Woolworth’s in downtown Greensboro. They bought a tube of toothpaste and then sat down at the lunch counter and ordered coffee. The waitress told them, “We do not serve Negroes.” So they sat in until closing time that day. I was a junior in high school and watched it on the TV with my family. It reminded me of my sit-in with my friend George at the ice cream store in Littleton. But in Greensboro, the A&T students made the news and stayed in the news. The next day, and the day after, the A&T students came back with more students who demanded to be seated. Woolworth’s shut down the lunch counter rather than serve blacks. White owners waffled on giving in, but the new sit-in tactic took hold. Within two months, the sit-in movement spread to fifty-four cities in nine states. Within a year, more than one hundred cities had had student-led demonstrations against segregated public facilities. Some scholars have compared the Greensboro sit-in with the Boston Tea Party in terms of its impact on history. Many young people today think the four students sat down at Woolworth’s and then restaurants throughout the South desegregated. In truth, the struggle to desegregate that one lunch counter in downtown Greensboro went on for six months. Even after Woolworth’s started serving blacks, all the other businesses continued their racist practices. A&T has a strong tradition of activism. The full name of the school is North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. It was formed during Reconstruction and has been a center of African American culture and resistance. Going to college at A&T is a strong tradition in my family. My father went to high school at A&T. Five of us kids ended up going to college at A&T.1 Willena ■ When the A&T students sat down at Woolworth’s, they made the news all over...

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