The Greensboro Four were four African American students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College who staged one of the first sit-in protests of the Civil Rights Movement.
On February 1, 1960, Ezell A. Blair Jr., David Leinhail Richmond, Joseph Alfred McNeil, and Franklin Eugene McCain sat at a segregated lunch counter in the Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth’s store. This lunch counter only had seating for white patrons, while black people had to stand and eat. Although they were refused service, they were allowed to stay at the counter. The actions of the Greensboro Four inspired a wave of similar demonstrations across the South that eventually involved more than 50,000 students and led to increased national attention at a critical point in the Civil Rights Movement.