Sit-in
A
sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more persons nonviolently occupying an area for
protest, often political, social, or economic change. Sit-ins were first employed by
Mahatma Gandhi in
Indian independence movement and were later expanded on by
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and others during the
American Civil Rights Movement. In the
1960s students used this method of protest during the
student movements such as the
protests in Germany.
In a sit-in, protesters seat themselves and remain seated until they are evicted, usually by force, or until their requests have been met. Sit-ins have been a highly successful form of protest because they cause disruption that draws attention to the protest and by proxy the protesters' cause. The forced removal of protesters and sometimes the answer of non-violence with violence often arouses sympathy from the public, increasing the chances of the demonstrators reaching their goal. Sit-ins usually occur indoors at
businesses or
government offices but they have also occurred in
plazas,
parks, and even
streets.
A sit-in is similar to a
sitdown strike. However, whereas a sit-in involves protesters, a sitdown strike involves
striking workers occupying the area in which they would be working and refusing to leave so they can not be replaced with
scabs. The sitdown strike was the precursor to the sit-in.
Sit-ins were an integral part of the non-violent strategy of
civil disobedience that ultimately ended
racial segregation in the United States. The
Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) conducted sit-ins as early as the
1940s, but the first nationally publicized sit-in was the
Greensboro Sit-In at a
Woolworth's in
Greensboro, North Carolina, on
February 1,
1960. Within weeks, sit-in campaigns had begun in nearly a dozen cities, primarily targeting Woolworth's and
S. H. Kress stores. Probably the best organized of these were the
Nashville sit-ins which involved hundreds of participants and led to the successful desegregation of Nashville
lunch counters. Many of the participants in sit-ins were college students and
Historically black colleges and universities played a critical role in implementing sit-ins.
With the encouragement of
Melvin B. Tolson and
James L. Farmer students from
Wiley and
Bishop Colleges organized the first sit-ins in
Texas in the
rotunda of the
Harrison County Courthouse in
Marshall, Texas. This sit-in directly challenged the oldest
White Citizens Party in Texas and would culminate in the reversal of
Jim Crow laws in the state and the desegregation of postgraduate studies in Texas by the
Sweatt v. Painter (
1950) verdict.
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teach-in*
kneel-in, a black protest against segregration, taking place in white-only churches.
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swim-in, taking place in white-only pools.
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stand-in *
work-in*
bed-In, peace campaign by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969.
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die-in*
smoke-in, organized defiance of anti-cannabis laws.
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read-in*
Industrial Workers of the World - first labor union to employ sit-in strikes
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Sit-In: A Tactical Analysis, By Aaron Kreider - Essay based on research on student sit-ins.
