Woolworth's lunch counter from Greensboro, North Carolina, site of a 1960 civil rights sit-in at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.

Woolworth's lunch counter from Greensboro, North Carolina, site of a 1960 civil rights sit-in. One of the most significant protests of the civil rights movement took place at this lunch counter. On February 1, 1960, four African American students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat at this "whites only" lunch counter, asked to be served, and, when they were not, refused to leave. The sit-in and boycott of the store lasted six months and was the focus of national publicity. On July 25 the lunch counter was desegregated, a victory for the civil rights movement.