Taking a Stand
Joe McNeil, Franklin McCain, and two friends wait to be served at the Woolworth’s lunch counter.
The Granger Collection; Colorization by Gluekit
CCSS
R.1, R.3, R.4, R.7, W.2, SL.1, SL.2, L.4, L.6
The Brave Boys of Greensboro
A play based on a true story from the civil rights movement
PROLOGUE
Wally McNamee/Corbis via Getty Images
In the 1950s, Jim Crow laws were used to treat black people unfairly across America’s South.
N1: In the South in the 1950s, Jim Crow laws kept black Americans from having the same rights as other people.
N2: They couldn’t go to school with white Americans.
N3: They couldn’t eat at the same restaurants or live in the same neighborhoods.
N1: They had to sit separately on buses and in theaters.
N2: They weren’t allowed in many public parks or swimming pools.
N3: Many white people didn’t want things to change.
N1: But for some black Americans, being treated as equals was worth dying for.
SCENE 1
Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo
Black people couldn’t wait at the same bus stops as white people, or eat in the same restaurants.
N2: It is January 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
N3: Four black college students are talking.
David: Joe, how was your trip back from New York?
Joe: It was OK until I got to Virginia.
David: What happened?
Joe: I tried to buy a sandwich at the bus station, but they wouldn’t serve me.
Franklin: I’m so tired of people treating us badly because of our skin color.
Joe: We complain about this all the time. We’re all talk, talk, talk—and no action.
Ezell: What can we do?
Franklin: We’ve got to show people how unfair segregation is.
Joe: I have an idea. What if we went to a whites-only place and asked to be served?
Ezell: They won’t serve us.
David: Then we go back every day until they do.
Ezell: It might never happen!
Joe: We’ve got to try.
David: How about Woolworth’s department store? Black people can shop there, but we aren’t allowed to sit at the lunch counter.
Ezell: We’re going to sit where no black person has ever sat before and order something? Are you crazy?
Joe: What’s the worst that could happen?
Ezell: They’ll beat us up or arrest us.
Franklin: Not if we’re polite.
Ezell: I heard about a black man who was killed just for trying to vote.
Franklin: Well, we might get hurt. But isn’t it worth the risk?
SCENE 2
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A Peaceful Leader
In the 1950s, black people started fighting for equal rights. Many of them—like the Greensboro Four—were inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest civil rights leaders of the time. He believed that peaceful protests were more powerful than violence.
N1: The next day, the boys stand outside Woolworth’s in their best clothes.
Joe: My heart is pounding.
David: Remember that whatever happens, we don’t fight back. We don’t talk back.
N2: They enter the store. David picks out some pencils and goes to check out.
David: I’d like to buy these, please.
Store Clerk: That’s 50 cents.
N3: David pays and takes his receipt.
N1: The boys go over to the lunch counter and sit down.
N2: The room goes silent. For a while, nothing happens.
N3: The waitress ignores them. White customers give them dirty looks.
Franklin: Excuse me, ma’am. We’d like to be served.
Waitress: I’m sorry. I can’t.
Joe: We would just like a cup of coffee, please.
Waitress: You can go to the stand-up counter downstairs.
David: We would like to sit here, ma’am.
N1: The manager comes over.
Mr. Harris: Is there a problem here?
Ezell: No, sir. We’d like to order some coffee, please.
Mr. Harris: Boys, I can only serve you downstairs.
David: You let me buy pencils a few minutes ago.
Mr. Harris: This counter is for whites only.
Franklin: Is sitting here against the law?
Mr. Harris: No. But it’s the rule at our store.
Joe: Sir, we don’t agree with the rule. And we’re going to sit here until we are served.
N2: An elderly white customer walks over.
N3: They think she is going to say something mean.
Customer: Boys, I am so proud of you. This should have been done long ago.
N1: The boys sit taller knowing she is on their side.
N2: A police officer enters. He paces back and forth behind the boys, slapping his nightstick into his palm.
David (whispering ): He could crack our skulls with that.
Mr. Harris: Officer, they won’t leave!
Police Officer: I can’t arrest them for just sitting there. Have they started any fights?
Mr. Harris: No, they have been very polite.
Police Officer: Close the store early. This will all blow over in a day or two.
Mr. Harris: I wouldn’t be too sure about that.
Library of Congress
SCENE 3
N3: The next morning, the boys arrive at Woolworth’s with more friends.
N1: They sit at the lunch counter all day. No one serves them.
N2: Word has spread about their protest. A large crowd comes to watch.
N3: Some people shout nasty names at the students.
N1: Newspaper reporters and TV crews arrive.
Jo Spivey: Boys, why are you doing this?
David: I was taught that America is a democracy and that all men are created equal. But we are not treated as equals.
Joe: I believe segregation is not just unfair, it is evil.
Ezell: The time for change is now!
SCENE 4
N2: On day three, students from other schools come to Woolworth’s to join the sit-in.
N3: They fill up all the counter seats.
Jo Spivey: Boys, do you think Mr. Harris will serve you?
Ezell: He’s waiting for us to get tired and go away.
Joe: But we are not giving up.
N1: On day four, 300 students show up at Woolworth’s.
Jo Spivey: Your protest is really growing.
Franklin: My friends in Raleigh, North Carolina, read about us in the paper. They are planning a sit-in too.
Jo Spivey: You boys sure are getting a lot of attention.
David: Yeah, but not all of it is good. Last night some guy called me. He said if I came back to Woolworth’s, I was a dead man.
Jo Spivey: Are you scared?
David: Threats won’t stop us.
N2: And they didn’t.
N3: By the end of the week, more than 1,000 students— black and white—are packed into Woolworth’s.
N1: Two months later, sit-ins are happening in more than 50 other cities.
N2: And by July, the lunch counter at Woolworth’s is officially open to black people.
N3: Soon, every restaurant in Greensboro is serving all customers, no matter their skin color.
Bettmann/Getty Images (Rosa Parks); The Granger Collection (Sit-In)
The Power of Peace
During the civil rights movement, there were many peaceful protests. In Alabama, Rosa Parks (left) would not give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. And the Greensboro Four’s sit-in spread to many other cities across the country (right).
Protesters refused to get angry or violent, even when they had sugar, ketchup, and mustard poured on them.
SCENE 5
N1: Today, 60 years later, those four teen boys are known as the “Greensboro Four.”
N2: They are remembered as heroes of the civil rights movement.
Ezell: Can you believe there was a time when a black person couldn’t walk into a restaurant and order coffee?
Joe: We felt like we had to take a stand.
Ezell: There’s no better feeling in the world than standing up for what you believe is right.
ACTIVITY:
Making an Inference
Chuck Burton/AP Images
Civil Rights Heroes
Joe, Ezell, Franklin, and David (left to right) sit at the same lunch counter 30 years later.
You’ve just read “The Brave Boys of Greensboro.” Now it’s time to try this activity.
Tip: An inference is something that isn’t stated but can be figured out from clues in the text.
What to do: Imagine that you are Joe McNeil. Reporter Jo Spivey is interviewing you six months after the start of your sit-in. Make inferences to answer each of her questions with at least one complete sentence.
Your plan began with a conversation about your trip home from New York. You said your trip was OK until you got to Virginia. Why did things change at that point?
I’ve heard that Ezell wasn’t excited about having a sit-in at first. Why is that?
On the first day of the sit-in, David said, “Remember that whatever happens, we don’t fight back. We don’t talk back.” Why?
You were able to get Woolworth’s to change its rule. Why do you think the sit-in worked so well?
