As Black History Month comes to a close, I find myself watching a lot of wonderful documentaries on significant moments in our history. This weekend I’ve watched “Slavery by Another Name,” Independent Lens’ “First Lady of Little Rock: Daisy Bates,” and “February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four.”
There have also been a lot of media on the ground breaking ceremony for the new National Museum of African American History & Culture due to be completed in 2015.
While we wait for this long overdue honor to be created, there’s a museum in Greensboro, NC that has wonderfully captured a crucial moment in the history of the civil rights movement. The International Civil Rights Museum opened on in 2010 and chronicles the journey of the North Carolina A&T/Greensboro Four students and the sit-in movement they started with one courageous act on February 1, 1960. The museum is located in the actual (F.C.) Woolworth’s store where the students started the sit-in movement at the segregated lunch counter. Using the authentic counter and the actual stools that the students sat on as a backdrop, visitors view recreations of the six-month effort that resulted in integrated lunch counters at Woolworth’s.
The museum also features sixteen moving exhibits like “I’ll Make Me a World,” “Hall of Shame,” “Jail, No Bail,” “And Still I Rise,” and “A Changed World.” “A Changed World” chronicles the struggle for civil rights around the world.
Be sure to also visit the AT&T campus to see the beautiful bronze statue of the Greensboro Four (David Richmond, Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil). The statue was dedicated on Feb. 1, 2002 and brilliantly captures the strength, courage and determination of the four students/brothers on their path to destiny.
Create your own family history. Take a weekend out of the kids’ spring break vacation or summer break and visit the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, NC and share one of the most important moments in black history with your family.
For the complete list of museum exhibits and hours of operation, please visit: www.sitinmovement.org.
By The Travelin Diva (Kirstin N. Fuller of Reservations Travel Guide)
I am writing this in sisterly love, the university is North carolina A&T, not AT&T, and the A&T Four. I am an Aggie! The museum is a really great place to go, I encourage all to visit.There is a lot to learn for all ages!
Thank You! That was a typo on my part. No way was it intentional. We will correct. Thanks again.