The International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro North Carolina: celebrate the famous Woolworth lunch counter sit-in

The centerpiece of the Museum is the historic lunch counter and the original stools where four N.C. A & T freshmen (Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, David Richmond and Joseph McNeil) sat down in nonviolent protest.

The Museum is housed in the original 1929 F.W. Woolworth retail store in downtown Greensboro, N.C., which was saved from destruction by the Museum’s co-founders, Melvin “Skip” Alston and Earl Jones.

The Museum's exhibit space spans two floors and cover 30,000 square feet. A blend of educational exhibits, period artifacts and state-of-the-art technology will be featured, taking visitors on a journey through the challenges African Americans faced in the struggle for equal rights. The Museum will also highlight key contributors in the civil rights movement and celebrate the impact of the sit-in movement on civil and human rights issues throughout the world.

The original portion of the lunch counter and stools where the four students sat has never been moved from its original footprint, while the remaining section has been restored and returned to its 1960 location.

The authentic backsplash, massive cash register, food service equipment, place settings, service utensils, signage and other elements remain to create a realistic 1960 lunch counter experience for Museum visitors, says Amelia Parker, executive director of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.

The building has been meticulously restored and reflects many of the architectural details from the original F.W. Woolworth retail store including the terrazzo floors, intricate moldings and even the signature "Woolworth" gold lettering that graces the exterior of the building.

In addition to the exhibits, the facility is a collecting museum featuring period artifacts that reflect some of the most notable names, places, events and achievements of the civil rights movement. On display will be such items as:

• A bus seat, circa 1950, signed by Rosa Parks
• An authentic wooden slave auction sign
• Green Book, a circa 1950 travel directive to identify “safe houses” and establishments that would service African Americans
• A medical bag used by Dr. George Evans, the first African-American physician allowed to practice medicine in what had been an all-white Greensboro hospital
• The official uniform once worn by Capt. Harvey Alexander, member of the first graduating class from the Tuskegee Air Corps
• A travel typewriter used by anti-segregationalist Ralph McGill, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and publisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution