Counter Closed During Sit-In: Arlington, Virginia: 1960
Gwendolyn Greene (later Britt) sits patiently at the People’s Drug counter on the 4700 block of Lee Highway in Arlington, Virginia during a sit-in protest June 9, 1960.
The workers behind the counter served white customers then walked out when demonstrators sat down, only returning when the management closed the counter (note sign). There were three sit-ins conducted that day including at People’s Drug Store and another Drug Fair.
The protestors were part of the Non-Violent Action Group (NAG), an integrated group mainly composed of students that was led by Howard University divinity student Laurence Henry.
The sit-in demonstrations at People’s Drug Store, Drug Fair, Landsburgh’s Woolworths and the Howard Johnson’s in Arlington were successful within a matter of weeks and most restaurants and lunch counters in the city desegregated in 1960.
The group moved on to Maryland the same year where they staged ultimately successful demonstrations to desegregate Glen Echo Amusement Park, the Hi-Boy restaurant in Rockville and the Hiser Theater in Bethesda.
Greene was part of a group with four others arrested on the carousel at Glen Echo in a case that ultimately went to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled in the protestors favor and overturned the arrests because the park had used deputy sheriffs to enforce it’s Jim Crow policy. Greene went on to become a state senator in Maryland (Gwendolyn Britt).
For a short article on one of the protestors, Dion Diamond, see washingtonspark.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/crazy-dion-diamo...
For additional photos of the campaign to desegregate restaurants in Arlington, Virginia, see flic.kr/s/aHsjDFaXGH
Photo by Paul Schmick. Courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Counter Closed During Sit-In: Arlington, Virginia: 1960
Gwendolyn Greene (later Britt) sits patiently at the People’s Drug counter on the 4700 block of Lee Highway in Arlington, Virginia during a sit-in protest June 9, 1960.
The workers behind the counter served white customers then walked out when demonstrators sat down, only returning when the management closed the counter (note sign). There were three sit-ins conducted that day including at People’s Drug Store and another Drug Fair.
The protestors were part of the Non-Violent Action Group (NAG), an integrated group mainly composed of students that was led by Howard University divinity student Laurence Henry.
The sit-in demonstrations at People’s Drug Store, Drug Fair, Landsburgh’s Woolworths and the Howard Johnson’s in Arlington were successful within a matter of weeks and most restaurants and lunch counters in the city desegregated in 1960.
The group moved on to Maryland the same year where they staged ultimately successful demonstrations to desegregate Glen Echo Amusement Park, the Hi-Boy restaurant in Rockville and the Hiser Theater in Bethesda.
Greene was part of a group with four others arrested on the carousel at Glen Echo in a case that ultimately went to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled in the protestors favor and overturned the arrests because the park had used deputy sheriffs to enforce it’s Jim Crow policy. Greene went on to become a state senator in Maryland (Gwendolyn Britt).
For a short article on one of the protestors, Dion Diamond, see washingtonspark.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/crazy-dion-diamo...
For additional photos of the campaign to desegregate restaurants in Arlington, Virginia, see flic.kr/s/aHsjDFaXGH
Photo by Paul Schmick. Courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.