Civil rights museum: Greensboro sit-ins

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Photos: The International Civil Rights Center & Museum opens in Greensboro, N.C. on Feb. 1, 2010, fifty years after a sit-in there sparked the civil rights movement.

On February 1, 1960, four black college freshmen walked up to the "whites only" lunch counter at an F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C., sat down and demanded service. Their action, which sparked civil rights sit-ins across the nation, is memorialized by a new museum in Greensboro.

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum opened on Feb. 1, 50 years after the sit-in. From left are original sit-in participant Franklin McCain, Rev. Jesse Jackson, museum co-founder Melvin "Skip" Alston, Sen. Kay Hagan, Gov. Bev Perdue, State Rep. and museum co-founder Earl Jones, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez and original sit-in participant Jibreel Khazan.

The store site has now been transformed into the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

The museum includes a Hall of Shame lined with images of civil-rights-era violence.

The lunch counter at the former F.W. Woolworth is shown in the museum.

This exhibit in the museum is reconstruction of an entrance to the Greensboro train depot.

A historical marker in front of the former F.W. Woolworth store explains what happened there. Within two months of the first sit-in, others were happening in 54 cities in nine states. And within six months, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was desegregated.

A photograph from the Jim Crow era serves as a mural at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

This photo, taken on Jan. 7, shows workers putting finishing touches on the museum.

Workers were installing exhibits in early January.

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On February 1, 1960, four black college freshmen walked up to the "whites only" lunch counter at an F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C., sat down and demanded service. Their action, which sparked civil rights sit-ins across the nation, is memorialized by a new museum in Greensboro.

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