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The "sit in movement" began on February 1, 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina with four Black college students attempting to desegregate a "whites only" department store lunch counter. When the restaurant refused to serve the students they remained seated until the close of business at the end of the day. The students returned every morning for the next five days each day with more protesters until they forced the store to close its doors.The sit-in strategy was popular by college students and civil rights organizations in challenging segregation in public facilities in the South. Black or racially integrated groups of students would sit down in white-only areas and refuse to move until they were served or removed by force. "By the end of 1960, approximately 70,000 students had participated in a sit-in or marched to support the demonstrators. Prior to 1960, few Blacks in the South were willing to take the kind of risks that came along with a direct action protest. With the imminent threat of losing their jobs after an arrest, those in the struggling Black community weren't willing to put their livelihood and that of their family in jeopardy. Black students generally didn't have the same financial obligations (mortgage, children) than their older counterparts and were interested in forcing more immediate change than the legal reform advocated by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
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