Greensboro

American Visions, April-May, 1995 by Michael L. Pina

The only major battle fought near Greensboro, N.C., was way back during the Revolutionary War. it lasted all of three hours--and the Americans lost. For decades following the middle of the 19th century, the city existed primarily as a transportation center and drop-off point on the North Carolina Railroad. Even today, fewer than 200,000 people live here.

But for African Americans, a trip to Greensboro takes on a historical significance all its own. The Quaker settlers in the region established the first Underground Railroad and from the 1830s onward to the Civil War, they helped thousands of slaves to safety in the North. Decades later, Charlotte Hawkins, a North Carolina-born African American, returned home from a Northern education and started the Palmer Memorial Institute, one of the premier preparatory schools for black children during the era of segregated education.

For many, Greensboro will always be remembered for the events of February 1, 1960, when four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University took seats at a Woolworth's lunch counter, politely asked to be served, and refused to move on when they were told that only whites were welcome to eat. Within two weeks, this first "sit-in" demonstration spawned a wave of similar protests in 11 cities across the South and became a transforming force in the civil rights movement, heralding the rise of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and a new generation of black leaders.

But sit-ins (except as museum exhibits) and trains no longer characterize North Carolina's third-largest city. Today, restaurants, art galleries and museums lure you here. And air travel is the best way to reach a city located about halfway between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta-particularly since Continental Airlines' decision to establish a hub at Greensboro's Piedmont Triad International Airport. The airline will offer more than 100 nonstop flights from Greensboro to 31 cities.

Once in town, you should stop first at the city visitors center located at 317 South Greene Street, where you can pick up a visitor's guide and brochures on area attractions, hotels, shopping centers and restaurants.

The visitors center is just two blocks from the Woolworth building that was the site of the 1960 sit-in. The store has closed, but a local group, Sit-in Movement Inc., has purchased the building and plans to convert it into an international civil rights center and museum, whose opening is scheduled for 1997. "International" is the key word here: The museum will distinguish itself from civil rights museums in Memphis, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., by focusing not only on black political movements in the United States, but also on those in South Africa, Brazil and elsewhere. To make the dream happen, two local political leaders, Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston and City Councilman Earl Jones, are heading up a $9 million fund-raising campaign that is supported by groups as diverse as the NAACP and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Until the civil rights museum opens, the best way to get the feel of life during the sit-ins is to visit the Greensboro Historical Museum at 120 Summit Avenue. On its first floor is an exhibit that features chairs used during the historic sit-in at Woolworth's and a giant photograph of the four pioneering students. Nearby are replicas of local newspapers, whose headlines blare out "Students Stage Sit-In Demand." Below the newspapers is a day-by-day chronicle of the events that helped change America.

Before leaving the museum, which is free, be sure to check out "Significant Steps in Local Black History." This exhibit chronicles the history of black successes in Greensboro, and it includes photographs of many black leaders. Also not to be missed is the exhibit of furniture from Thomas Day (see sidebar), a prominent black cabinetmaker who ran a successful carpentry and furniture-making business from the 1820s to 1860. Elsewhere in the museum are exhibits that detail the lives and times of black servicemen who were stationed at a local military base during World War II.

North Carolina likes to call itself the State of the Arts; in Greensboro, the best place to discover African-American art is at the Greensboro Cultural Center, a modern facility located within an easy walk of the visitors center. Here, you pass through the African-American Atelier and meet its curator, Alma Adams. The four-year-old gallery was founded by Adams, an art professor and state legislator, and by the late Eva Hamlin-Miller and a number of area artists, who were having trouble getting their works displayed locally.

The atelier was a real labor of love for the people of Greensboro. Unable to secure grants from traditional sources, Hamlin-Miller and Adams approached the area's black lawyers, doctors and enterpreneurs for contributions. Their response ensured that Greensboro's visitors have yet another reason to be glad they came.

Today, the gallery includes the work of emerging artists, many of whom have never before had their work displayed. As you walk through the one-room studio, you immediately notice that, while the artists are African Americans, the images on view are not constrained by race--they run the full spectrum, from rural scenes of country houses and fields to colorful collages that can be anything you imagine them to be. "Many people are pleasantly surprised when they come here, because they have a set image about black art," says Adams. "We try to explain that black art is not about the art as much as it is about the artist." Prices in the gallery range from $150 to $1,000.