History To-Go: Civil Rights

The Civil Rights Movement was a fight for equality for African Americans across the nation, but especially in the South, that faced harsh discrimination. North Carolina was no exception - beginning in 1868, 3 years after the end of the Civil War and formal slavery, segregation was legal in North Carolina. Laws known as 'Jim Crow laws' prevented Black and White citizens from sharing the same spaces, using the same facilities, and marrying, among other things. Throughout the 1950s, organizations like the NAACP worked towards ending segregation, but on February 1, 1960, 4 college students in Greensboro propelled the movement forward by sitting at a whites-only counter at a Woolworth's department store and refusing to leave until they had been served. The next day there were 15 protesters, the day after 150, and the day after that over 1,000, which spread to lunch counters across downtown. On July 25, 1960, Woolworth's, Kress, and Meyer lunch counters all announced that they would serve Black customers. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially ended all enforced segregation.

April's "History To-Go" box features Civil Rights! You can come by the museum starting Tuesday, April 4, 2023 to pick up a box (limit 2 per family). Limited supplies, so come early!  You can select the links below to access the box contents if you cannot get to the museum to pick yours up!

Thanks to funding from the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex Foundation Inc, and the Arts Council of Fayetteville we are offering FREE "History To-Go", take home craft kits. 

NEXT MONTH: Early Travel