This building once housed the wool worth store where the movement started in 1960. What happened here in 1960, february 1 four young men from North Carolina a T State University chose that day to make a stand really to take a seat so that the rest of us would be able to do that. They took a stand against jim crow, against segregation against whites only access to public accommodations and to being seen as a first class citizen. They came here to the Wool Worth Building to this lunch counter to sit down to be treated like the policies and practices. So this year in the museum is the actual lunch counter area. That has been preserved. There are seats that have been taken out of here. So the gentleman that sat in, the four young men who sat in here have talked to us about around where they sat. And so a lot of the things that you will see here are the actual advertisements around the different menu items they offered and the prices. These four young gentlemen were franklin mccain, blair joseph mcneil, and david richmond. They were freshmen at North Carolina a T State University, an historically black college here in greensboro, North Carolina. They came to the woolworth store, sat at the counter ordered some coffee and a piece of pie. The response was mixed. You boys go on from here. Another waitress was saying we dont serve colored people here. So they came here to sit down to take the first step in that demonstration. The word, you know, spread quickly that the next day, this was going to be ongoing, and there were other people who wanted to be involved. Other adults that with shoreking up. Other students who say they want to be part of this. Students from bennett college, students from now what is uncg North Carolina greensberg. At the time, the womens college. Other students and other Community Members wanted to get involved and stand behind the brave and courageous step. They waived their consequences. They talked about being afraid. They talked about what i would say is courage is the lack of fear doing whats right in the face of fear. Its the way they finally decided to come here and take the step that day. So they talked about the community. They talked about law enforcement. You know . They talked about the police, what would be the reaction. They talked about the dangers, the consequences, they talked about their futures. They had been advised, they had been counseled. They had been encouraged and trained about what was going to happen to them here. You know . They would go through the sort of mock experiences where people are going to call your names. People will spit on you, people will throw food on you. They may be chanting things and getting in your face. There may be some physical experience that you may have with someone. There are mixed reactions in greensboro to this sitin. A lot of people felt like this is the way things are. You keep the peace. You just accept thats the way things are. And i think other people feel like this isnt right. So there were mixed reactions to this. That there are some people white and black that encourage and said its about time. And let their support. And there were other people who said youre just starting trouble, this isnt good. Its just going to create more tension around here and so there were mixed reactions to that. And in this dialogue, there were requests that while were in negotiations if we can just, you know, not have the demonstrations. And i think the negotiations went on for sometime. And that all parties agreed that they would not participate in the demonstrations at that point and then the decision was made to desegregate the lunch counter. Well once you set a precedence like that, it gets to be used as leverage. It changes peoples minds and practices. I think those kinds of things are catalyst. The fact that it happened in greensboro gives us an incredible immediate sense of how to interpret and understand what were going to go through today. To be able to come to this museum museum, to go on the tour, to look at the different exhibits, to hear the reenactments, to be able to see the photographs, experience a compelling and provocative experience here i think, gives us the courage to say what must we do Going Forward . I think this place provides the contextual information to understand why we have racial inequities today. Why do we have an achievement gap where students of color particularly africanamericans are on the bottom. Why do we have racial and ethnic disparities on health care. Why do we have overrepresentation in the juvenile justice system. So we have this place right here we can put our hands on it and come and be not only in that physical place, but in the interpretive space. The actions that the young men took on that day and the fact that we were able to memorialize that here in this museum gives us an opportunity to ask ourselves what is my lunch counter issue . What is what would i be demonstrating or if those young men were here today, what would they say institutionally, societally, needs to be addressed and what would be the strategy for that . Find out where the cities tour is going next online at cspan. Org city tour. Youre watching American History tv, all weekend every weekend on cspan 3. Next weekend marks the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday, when Voting Rights advocates on a march from selma to montgomery,al aal were met with violence from state troopers. Live from selma next saturday and sunday march 7 and 8. Each night well show highlights of our coverage. Heres congressman john lewis, one of the leaders of the march, reflecting on selma 50 years later. I think one of the great moments of hope when we were marching from selma to montgomery bloody sunday, and seeing the reaction of people around the nation and around the world, demonstration in more than 80 cities on every major campus in america said its going to work out. President lyndon johnson, eight days after bloody sunday, speaking to the nation i think one of the most meaningful speeches the american president had given at any time. At the end of that speech he said and we shall overcome. That was hope. That said it all. Up next from american