Civil rights museum opens at site of NC sit-in

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A civil rights museum in North Carolina is now open at the site of a 1960 sit-in that sparked a movement.

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum opened Monday, with hundreds of people gathering in downtown Greensboro to celebrate the project. The museum is located in the original Woolworth’s, where four college freshman went 50 years ago to begin a nonviolent protest of racial segregation.

One of the students, Franklin McCain, encouraged activists Monday to seize the moment to bring about change. North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan says the four men spurred a movement that changed U.S. history.

The sit-in demonstrations that followed the one in Greensboro helped lead to passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Information from: News & Record, http://www.news-record.com

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