Vice President Kamala Harris visited the historic Woolworth’s lunch counter where four Black students from North Carolina A&T peacefully protested segregation in 1960.
Part of the countertop is located at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina and also houses the bus where Rosa Parks refused to conform to segregation laws in 1955.
The Associated Press reported that Harris made the impromptu visit to the Center on Monday (April 19) while visiting North Carolina to promote President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan.
The Greensboro Four, David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, and Jibreel Khazan, inspired nonviolent protest strategies during the Civil Rights Movement after they bravely sat at the “whites only” lunch counter. Harris reportedly sat in the same seat as Rosa Parks when Parks visited the Center in the 1990s, according to People.
Another section of the countertop is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
In 2019, Harris commemorated the 59th anniversary of the Greensboro Four's action on Twitter, acknowledging that “Their courage, strength, and refusal to accept injustice brought our nation a step close to who we can and should be.”
Photo: Getty Images