
“WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!"

On February 1, 1960, four African American college students from North Carolina A&T, refused to give up their seats at the segregated Woolworth lunch counter of the Greensboro, N.C. Their protest inspired and kicked off a series of similar protest across the country. At it’s hieght, it is estimated that 70,000 people participated in sit in protests at businesses and lunch counters across America. Ultimately, the protests led to the F. W. Woolworth Company changing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States.
These protest inspired CFSCHRL to create an exhibit that could educate visitors to the Center on the who, what, why, and how behind one of the most successful peaceful protest strategies employed in our nation’s history.
The “We shall not be moved” exhibit is nearly complete. Significantly, most of the artifacts which are utilized in the exhibit actually come from Woolworths lunch counters which actually engaged in segregation practices. Everything from the plates, menus, utensils, cash register, stools, weight machine, pie/desert display case, Coke and Nehi dispenser etc. all came from Woolworths stores which engaged in discriminatory practices. The safe actually used in the Greensboro Woolworth was recently acquired and will be added once the exhibit opens in the spring of 2024.