February 13th -- a copycat sit-in in Nashville

You know what? That was mean…

As many of the two of you – or ALL of you who can read plain damned English – know, I was born and have been raised in/near Greensboro, NC…
Without getting too in depth, my fanship of Rick James and refusal to do the SAME shit we’ve all heard during Black History Month led me to NOT post on the Greensboro Sit-Ins of February 1, 1960. Sorry, it just isn’t as huge a deal to me when one stops to consider that it took them over 20 years after closing the Woolworth’s where it happened to get the fucking museum open.
Digging now for today’s post, we find ourselves just 12 days later than that event which took place a mere 800 or so feet (yes, FEET)from a where a barbershop I once frequented used to be.

Put a few hundred miles on your car down I-40 to Nashville from Greensboro (and yes, that highway serves both), and you will be in 3 downtown Nashville establishments, where groups totaling 124 students would be seated, ask to be served and (of course refused). They sat in for a couple of hours each and left without incident. This would take place on today’s date in 1960.

This would be the first incident, the next would be on the 18^th, where the number would grow to 200 with a half-hour sit-in, then 350 on the 20^th. All protests were carried out without incident on the part of the protesters, in spite of the actions of onlookers. Arrests took place, but never was a protester out of line, and this is what eventually brought the businesses to their knees in desegregation.

I know, I started this off calling it a “copycat” sit-in, but the facts here are that the interconnected networks did not exist in 1960, so it was more coincidence as to the timing of them than anyone copying anyone else. Hell, it would have taken a month or more for word to effectively spread, so anyone who has googled this please take that title as the joke that it is.