In the wake of the Greensboro sit-ins in North Carolina that received wide publicity, desegregation in San Antonio was carried out voluntarily by most eating places in March 1960 after hearing demands from African-American leaders and both black and white churches. However, the management of Joske's declared that blacks could eat in its basement lunch counter, but its two restaurants would remain open to whites only, and hired guards to keep blacks out. However, after a number of protests and an incident of pushing and slapping, Joske's management changed course and by late summer admitted blacks to all its eating facilities.