IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1566 
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating 
Committee (SNCC) and the pioneering of college students whose deter-
mination and nonviolent resistance led to the desegregation of lunch 
counters and places of public accommodation over a 5-year period. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2010 
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia (for himself and Mr. COHEN) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Student Nonviolent 
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the pioneering of 
college students whose determination and nonviolent re-
sistance led to the desegregation of lunch counters and 
places of public accommodation over a 5-year period. 
Whereas, on February 1, 1960, 4 students, Joseph McNeil, 
Ezell Blair, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond, at-
tending North Carolina Agricultural and Technical Col-
lege in Greensboro, North Carolina, walked into Wool-
worth’s department store to purchase school supplies and 
then sat down at the store’s lunch counter for coffee; 
Whereas they were refused service at the lunch counter and 
stayed seated at the counter until the store closed; 
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Whereas when they were forced to leave the store, they still 
had not been served; 
Whereas these same students recruited other students from 
Bennett College for Women and Dudley High School, 
and after a few days of sit-ins, protestors filled almost all 
66 places at Greensboro’s Woolworth’s lunch counter, at-
tracting the attention of local reporters; 
Whereas the actions of these 4 North Carolina A&T students 
sparked a national sit-in movement; 
Whereas by the end of February 1960, there were nonviolent 
sit-ins in more than 30 communities in 7 States; 
Whereas sit-ins spread to Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Dur-
ham, Raleigh, Fayetteville, and other cities in North 
Carolina; 
Whereas on February 9, students at Smith University in 
Charlotte, North Carolina, instituted numerous sit-ins 
with Friendship Junior College students in Rock Hill, 
South Carolina; 
Whereas most Charlotte lunch counters and restaurants even-
tually integrated their businesses; 
Whereas North and South Carolina students protested seg-
regation in Rock Hill, South Carolina, to push integra-
tion and racial equality within local businesses; 
Whereas on February 11 and 12, sit-ins spread to Hampton, 
Virginia, and Rock Hill, South Carolina, respectively; 
Whereas on February 25, 40 students tried to sit-in at the 
Kress store in downtown Orangeburg, South Carolina; 
Whereas Kress’s lunch counter was closed and the stools were 
removed to prevent Blacks from promoting nonviolent re-
sistance by sitting at a ‘‘white-only’’ facility; 
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Whereas, on March 15, 1960, almost 1,000 students from 
South Carolina State and Claflin College began a peace-
ful march downtown to protest segregation and support 
sit-ins, and were attacked with clubs, tear-gas, and high- 
pressure fire hoses; 
Whereas almost 400 of the peaceful marchers were forced 
into a police stockade, it was the largest Freedom Move-
ment mass arrest at that time; 
Whereas, on February 13, 1960, African-American students 
in Nashville, Tennessee, began a desegregation sit-in 
campaign called the Nashville Student Movement; 
Whereas racist violence escalated with harassment and beat-
ings and many nonviolent protesters were arrested, over-
flowing the jails; 
Whereas 81 of the students were convicted of ‘‘disorderly 
conduct’’ and refused to pay the fine and chose instead 
to serve their time in jail; 
Whereas, on April 19, 1960, the home of Alexander Looby, 
the attorney representing most students in the Nashville 
Student Movement, was destroyed by a terrorist bomb; 
Whereas the bomb on Looby’s home led to a nonviolent 
march to the Nashville City Hall where student activist 
Diane Nash confronted Mayor Ben West, forcing him to 
admit segregation was morally wrong; 
Whereas the Nashville sit-in movement led to it being the 
first major city to begin desegregation of its public facili-
ties on May 10, 1960; 
Whereas, on February 22, 1960, the Civic Interest Group in 
Baltimore, Maryland, initiated sit-ins and pickets of de-
partment stores, ice cream parlors, and movie theaters; 
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Whereas Baltimore restaurants agreed to integrate after a 
short period of time; 
Whereas Baltimore’s Civic Interest Group continued its non-
violent resistance campaign over the next several years to 
initiate integration of all Baltimore businesses; 
Whereas Atlanta University Center (AUC) students began 
sit-ins on March 15, 1960, after forming the Committee 
on Appeal for Human Rights that facilitated training ses-
sions and workshops on the tactics of nonviolent resist-
ance; 
Whereas Atlanta students focused on support of Atlanta’s Af-
rican-American community to initiate boycott of all seg-
regated stores; 
Whereas by September of 1961, many Atlanta store owners 
desegregated their lunch counters based on the Atlanta 
students’ commitment to integration; 
Whereas, on March 16, 1960, students in Savannah, Georgia, 
demanded the integration of public facilities and the hir-
ing of African-American clerks and managers within 
stores; 
Whereas Savannah students won their integration demands 
by boycotting White-owned downtown stores; 
Whereas sit-ins in Memphis were launched on March 19, 
1960, by students from LeMoyne College and Owen Jun-
ior College; 
Whereas Memphis students organized sit-ins at the main 
public library and local department stores; 
Whereas protests in Memphis continued throughout the sum-
mer of 1960 and resulted in the integration of the local 
bus lines and the City’s parks; 
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