First Blog Post!

 David Lenieal Richmond

David Richmond:Civil Rights Activist

     David Leinail Richmond was a Civil Rights activist that participated in the Greensboro sit-ins. These were a very important part of the Civil Rights movement. But before we talk about those, let’s talk about David Richmond. He was born in Greensboro North Carolina on April 20. He was a popular student in college participating in many things. It was during this time when he was in college that the sit-ins took place. After the sit-ins David had trouble keeping up with his school work, and eventually dropped out. However a statue was built about the sit-ins. David Richmond was married twice but divorced both times. Eventually Richmond returned to Greensboro to take care of his parents. Sadly Richmond suffered depression at the end of his life. He died from lung cancer on December 7, 1990, at the age of 49. Now to the sit-ins.

The sit-ins happened at a college in California. David Richmond was not the only one to participate in the sit-ins. There were three others. Their names were Franklin McCain, Ezell A. Blair, Joseph McNeil. At the time these four people were college students. The four blacks had gone to a whites only counter in Woolworth, and when they were told they wouldn’t get served they sat there until they did. This may seem like such a little thing to do, but this was huge. Not many people were brave enough to do this type of thing. They could easily get arrested. But these students were so tired of segregation, and racial injustice that they decided to do something. This event spread to other places on the college campus. There were many protests and this eventually led to Woolworth and other establishments to change segregation policies.

That is a lot of information all at once so let’s go into the details of the event. First, what was their motivation? Sure it was to end segregation, but there was one other thing. It was the murder of Emmett Till. I won’t go into detail on that part because you might not want to hear about it. Anyway, the four students had heard about the murder, and were outraged. They decided to do something about it, because if they did nothing then this sort of thing would keep happening. They were also motivated by the non-violent protests of Mohandas Gandhi. It might seem like they just suddenly decided to do it, but these sit-ins were heavily planned. On February 1, 1960, the four students sat down at the counter in Woolworth, where the original policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites. Once denied service, the gentlemen refused to give up their seats. Police soon arrived, but were unable to do anything because of the lack of provocation. To prove their point the four stayed at their seats until the store closed. They came back the next day with more students.

By the end of March the sit-ins spread to another 55 cites that were in 13 states. Who knew such a small act could spread so quickly? According to the author of Wikipedia,” by February 5, about 300 students had joined the protests”. A while after the first blacks were served at the Woolworth lunch counter. These sit-ins were almost the source of the civil rights movement.

So the sit-ins had a good ending-mostly-and they made the civil rights movement even more well known. Hopefully you know more about David Richmond and the Greensboro sit-ins now.