I visited the Woolworth store where the Greensboro 4 made their now historic stand against Jim Crow on a field trip in middle school with an african american teacher who had recently moved south from Illinois, I think. He told us about driving past a “Welcome to Klan Country” billboard outside Smithfield, NC and having to stop the car and wonder if he was really going to bring his wife and 2 kids to a place like that.
He did, obviously, and the anecdote drove home for me on that day the significance of the sit ins and the civil rights movement in my state and the country as a whole.
I returned to Greensboro and the store this past snowy weekend to photograph the new Civil Rights museum that has been put into the old store that once stood in the path of progress.
The museum opened to the public on Monday, February 1, the 50th anniversary of the sit ins, which eventually forced the lunch counter to integrate, but not before over 145 people were arrested for participating in the protests.
The counter has been restored and the artifacts brought from around the country to honor those who gave part of themselves to make others equal.
It was a proud day, the museum has been 15 or so years in the making, but we must never forget where our country came from… to make sure it never happens again.
Read the review by Edward Rothstein here
See the slide show here
Full edit for all the buyers out there is here