The sit-ins began on February 1, 1960 when Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond went to F.W. Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina. The four students went to the store to buy toothpaste and notebook paper, and were fed up with the idea of traveling two miles to the store to be denied service. After much deliberation, the four students decided that they were going to try another type of protest. They weren't just going to wait around for someone to do something for them.
The night before the sit-ins, the four were talking about the way they were being treated. They were also trying to come up with ideas on how they would protest themselves. Finally, Joe McNeil told his friends, "Well, we've talked about it long enough. Let's do something." They listened. The next day the four traveled to Greensboro to show the world what they planned to do.
The townspeople didn't enjoy their lunch counter being taken by the four. Two waitresses and the owner told the four to leave. Some patrons who entered the store, upon seeing the students, left immediately. Others, however, weren't so polite. they threw things and heckled the four. The four didn't move, however. They remained seated until the store closed. No one counted it as a big event, and it wasn't in the major news.
The next day reminded the people of what happened the day before. Not only did the four return, but 16 others came with them. Four days later, several hundred students went to both Woolworth's and S.H. Kress, another lunch counter down the road. In Raleigh a week later, students sat in at a counter and 43 of them were arrested for trespassing. Within a year later, over 50,000 people partook in events similar to the sit-ins, and over 3,600 were arrested.