Greensboro sit in

5th July 2013

Took some time out today to do some exploring and Tom and I headed off to Greensboro and Winston – Salem. Tom had been reading up about these places in our guide book and we wanted somewhere that wouldn’t be too far to drive to make the most of just over half a day.

Tom said that he’d read about a museum in Greensboro that looked at the history of the Civil Rights movement. As he is very interested in history and politics (as am I) we headed for this.

I was expecting a fairly traditional museum with exhibits in cases. So I was really surprised by this excellent modern museum that tells the story of the Civil Rights movement through film, exhibits and a guided tour. (Our guide was excellent. A young African American guy who was passionate about his subject but avoided being too preachy by use of some nice touches of humour.)

I was aware of course of the segregation that had existed in the South. But I had not appreciated the extent. For example not only were there separate Whites and Coloreds (sic) waiting rooms at bus stations, there were separate Coke vending machines. With the Coke in the Colored room costing 10 cents as opposed to 5 cents in the White room.

There were countless other examples. But there were a couple of things that I was pleased to note. Firstly our guide pointed out that a good many White people were active in their support of the Civil Rights movement. (In a montage of mug shots of people arrested for protesting, there were a good number of White people including a priest from one of the northern states.)

Secondly our guide emphasised that the Church played a big part in the Civil Rights movement and whilst some Christians tried to use a distorted version of their faith to support separatism (my words not his) most did not.

The museum is housed in an old Woolworths store and this store played an instrumental part in the Civil Rights movement. On 1st February 1960 four black students entered the store and went up to the Whites only cafeteria and sat down. They each requested something from the menu and were refused service because the café was Whites only. Their action led to a whole lot of similar protests around the country. The story can be seen here http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/299/entry



A really excellent museum. I’m so pleased Tom spotted it.

A nice touch is that the street that runs down the side of the museum is now called February 1st Street.

On a slightly bizarre note, one of the lovely signs North Carolina puts up to demark places of historic interest, stands further down the street. The purpose of the sign – to mark the place where Vick’s Vapour rub was developed!

On our way back to Mooresville we stopped at Old Salem just outside Winston Salem. This is a lovely historic area. Unfortunately, as it was late in the day we didn’t have chance to properly look round as the historic buildings that can be visited were closing. But once Anne is over we’ll go back to visit.

A really interesting and thought provoking day.