To protest segregated lunch counters, four black freshmen from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, N.C., went to the "whites-only" lunch counter at the F.W. Woolworth store and attempt to order coffee. They are denied service, and the store manager asked them to leave. The four men politely refuse and remained peacefully seated.
The protest grew to include hundreds of picketers outside the lunch counter, and with the help of media coverage of the event, it became a model for similar protests around the country. In July, Woolworth's finally agreed to desegregate its North Carolina lunch counters. Other companies and cities follow suit. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act officially prohibits segregation in public places, including restaurants.
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