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[Photo of students receiving check to the right of article with the following description typed below photo]: STARTED SIT-IN MOVEMENT – The four A&T College students who triggered the first of the sit-in demonstrations in the South are shown here receiving a check from L.A. Wise, college bursar. The students, left to right, are: Franklin McCain, of Washington, D.C.; Joseph McNeill, McNeill, of Wilmington, N.C.; David Richmond, of Greensboro, and Ezell Blair Jr., of Greensboro. [Beginning of article] - The sit-in movement which captured the imagination of America and the world, resulting in the integration of eating facilities in many Southern communities had its origin in Greensboro, N. C. This social action advance—one of the most dramatic of the past 20 years, was actually initiated in the minds and hearts of four freshmen at A&T College on Feb. 1. 1960, and spread to 155 other Southern communities. It took Americas’ established Negro leadership by surprise. These young pioneers were Ezell Blair, of Greensboro; Joseph Mc- Neill, of Wilmington N. C.; Franklin McCain, of Washington. D. C . and David Richmond of Greensboro. Their idea was a simple one. Well-disciplined groups of students would visit the lunch counters of a number of selected stores downtown, seat themselves quietly and request service. In the event of refusal, they would remain seated. They also sought admission to theaters and places of recreation Second phase of the program involved picketing in which they were joined by students from Bennett College. Woman's College and Dudley High School. The fact that a sizeable number of white students joined in the protest came as a distinct surprise to the shopkeepers who had envisioned the protest against segregation an all-Negro effort. What was happening in Greensboro soon spread to other communities, particularly those with a college population, such as Durham, Raleigh, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem. Students were arrested, heckled and in some cases beaten, but they never struck back. Their non-violent approach to the task to which they were dedicated baffled their tormentors. About a week after the sit-ins began, a group of these students! telephoned the Rev. Martin Luther King and told him they would like his advice in the matter. King flew to Durham where he met with 100 young men and women from 16 southern campuses. He explained in detail the non-violent technique, counseling them that even if they were knocked down, they were not to fight back. He explained to them that there should be but one spokesman for any protesting group and that he should never speak in bitter terms. The students returned to their homes. In some communities, the sit-ins were called off temporarily while students and community leaders met with store operators and theater owners to discuss the matter. In some instances students who were arrested refused the opportunity for bail preferring ferences the owners of several eat-to remain in jail. As a result some of the con-ing facilities agreed to lower the color bars and to serve everyone. A few of the theaters agreed to limited s[e]ating arrangements but the majority of the theater owners held out against change. In one community, an owner closed his theater. Today in Greensboro, Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Winston-Salem and a number of smaller communities, it is possible for a Negra to obtain food service on a sit-down basis in places that two years ago refused his patronage completely. In many Northern cities, whites and Negroes aided the movement in the South by boycotting and picketing stores operated by such chains as Woolworth and Kress. They also collected funds to send South to aid in providing bail money or attorneys’ fees. The successful sit-ins were the forerunners of the Freedom Riders whose anti-segregation campaign on busses, bus terminals and bus terminal restaurants is a moral demonstration against the nation’s failure to provide equal treatment for the Negro. Blair, who likes to refer to the protest movement, as “passive insistence,” plans to become a lawyer. He admits to having been inspired by the Gandhi movement in India. Reflecting early in protest on its eventual outcome, young Blair said in an interview: “You can’t push a thing like this overnight. Some Negroes say we’re moving, but not fast enough. I say that if it takes two or maybe three months to gain equal service with white people in a chain store that has 100 years of history behind it, we've done something pretty big." One of the best statements on the significance of these demonstrations was made by Eugene V. Rostrow in an article. “The Freedom Riders and the Future” which appeared in the June 22 issue of The Reporter. Mr. Rostove said. "The task of the administration and of the nation in the field of civil rights has to be viewed against this background. We are where we are, not in 1868 or 1900 or even in 1954. The courts have discussed the issues, explained the governing principles and identified the problems. The adjustment of social organization to the requirements of the modern law of civil rights, in a society undergoing ra[p]id changes in structure and outlook, is at best a work of great difficulty. “The private and political centers of authority have been slow in facing up to their responsibilities, having been all too willing to leave the arduous work to the judges alone. But a mobilization. of opinion is beginning to occur. It cannot be fully effective until the President gives it the force and power which in our political system are uniquely his to command. “Then, but only then, will he be able to bring citizens' organizatio[n]s, trade unions, and bar associations to join in and give the movement a irresistable momentum in shaping events. “Such a transformation of the atmosphere is indispensable. For the extension and application of the Supreme Court's lead now requires more than the isolated decisions of the scattered Federal courts. We have reached a point in the process of doing justice to the Negro where wholesale action is needed—by state and local authorities, by administrative agencies, and by trade unions, churches and other private groups. "This I think, is the significance of the Freedom Riders as a call to eliminate racial segregation at lunch counters and toilets in bus terminals. They are part of a more general demand for human dignity in the wide range of social situations, North & South, beyond the immediate reach of the national government. To meet this demand, the President must function not only as the Chief Executive, faithfully enforcing the Federal code, but also as the occupant of Theodore Roosevelt's “bully pulpit,” speaking to and for the conscience of America. “The changes required to make the Negro the white man’s equal before the law must come. They are coming—not because political forces in the North demand them, nor yet to please public opinion in Africa and Asia and score a point in the cold war. We are struggling to accomplish these social changes because we know they are right. “The question before the nation is whether the legal system, drawing its power from the concurring opinions of the people, can accommodate itself to powerful and conflicting forces without a major breach of order and a breach in the habits of government. To resolve such conflicts through the methods of peace and persuasion is the ultimate function of law and its ultimate test.”