White picketers continued to harass the students with signs such as "Don't want you, Don't need you, Go home Nigger" (Wolff 128). As the sit-ins progressed, they showed how united the Black community could be, and how important change was to them. The sit-ins also showed a different side of the Negro problem to many whites who simply had not considered it before. Wolff notes, "Many white ministers and others who had not bothered to think about the situation before were giving public support to the students and offering their help finding a solution. It was far from a unanimous group, but it was a beginning" (Wolff 153). The community changed, because the sit-ins untied most of the Black community, and gave the white community a stronger view of just how dissatisfied the Blacks really were. Greensboro changed, and so did the South. The sit-ins even changed a & T, because the administration supported the students, even in the face of the threat of losing state sponsored funding for the school. As author Wolff notes, "Both individuals and the community changed, but to many the biggest changes was among the faculty and administration at a & T" (Wolff 163). Amazingly, some of Greensboro's Black community did not support integration, but for the most part, the Black community united behind the students and supported them, and the white community learned that the Blacks they thought were complacent really were not. Today, most people believe the state of civil rights and segregation in America are no longer issues. People are equal, and there...

However, there is still a line drawn between the races. Today, Blacks still constitute most of the poor in America's cities, and still populate the inner city ghettos, where drugs and crime are prevalent. There may be no overt segregation keeping them there, but there is still a line drawn in society, and many Blacks simply do not have the opportunity to cross that line and become successful. The schools in the inner cities are under funded, and poverty cannot be overcome with an inferior education and few other resources. Black Americans gained freedom from segregation in the 1960s, but they still are oppressed because of the color of their skin, and they still face challenges that most white Americans do not face.
In conclusion, the Greensboro sit-ins show that only a few people can create change, and make a great difference. The four young men who first sat down at the Woolworth's lunch counter were simply doing something they felt passionate about, and something that needed to be done. They showed that peaceful protest can work, and that when confronted with societal wrongs, most rational people are open to negotiation and resolution of problems. The sit-ins are a lesson for everyone because they spread, and because they worked, and they show what great things just a few people can accomplish when they are motivated.

References

Wolff, Miles. Lunch at the 5 & 10 the Greensboro Sit-Ins: A Contemporary History.…