Black students arrested during sit-in in former Cameron Village honored with historic marker

While many Raleighites know and love the Village District shopping center, they are likely unaware that one of the most pivotal peaceful protests in the Civil Rights movement occurred right on the 400 block of Woodburn Road – at what was then known as Woolworth's.

Inspired by lunch counter protests in Greensboro, 130 African American students entered eight Raleigh establishments and requested service. Of those protesters, 41 students from both Shaw and St. Augustine's universities were arrested for trespassing while peacefully protesting discriminatory policies.

Photos – from the News and Observer, now archived at the State Archives of North Carolina – show the protests and subsequent courtroom coverage. Protesters can be seen carrying signs down Fayetteville Street with messages like, "Do we eat today??" and "Just a cup of coffee."

Other images show stores with signs reading, "Closed in the interest of public safety," indicating how some members of the public felt about the protests.

One sign hanging over a lunch counter reads: "We reserve the right to serve the public as we see fit."

Newspaper articles from the 1960s show sit-ins were becoming more prominent across the state – and provide some insight into how businesses were responding.

"A large group of Negroes asked for service today at Walgreens in Winston-Salem, and the store promptly closed the counter," said one article from The Durham Sun.

Stores like Woolworths, Kress and McLellan closed their counters, and some even closed down their entire stores in response to sit-ins. One store kept their lunch counter open, but intentionally ignored African-American students.

One protester and leader summed up the protest in an interview. "I have no malice, no jealousy, no envy. I just want to come in whenever I would and be served," he said.

Raleigh mayor says sit-ins 'destined to fail'

Raleigh's then-mayor W. G. Enloe released a statement amid many of the sit-ins happening in the 1960s, first praising Raleigh's relationship with the African-American community and the contributions of both Shaw and St. Augustine colleges. However, he then said the sit-ins were damaging and "destined to fail."

"It is regrettable that some of our young Negro students would risk endangering these relations by seeking to change a long-standing custom in a manner that is all but destined to fail," said Enloe, according to a News & Observer article from February 11, 1960.

Enloe expressed sympathy for the merchants, rather than the students, arguing the merchants had 'no control' over the 'custom' of not allowing African-American men and women at their lunch counters.

Raleigh's sit-downs spurred the first major breakthrough of the student movement

The 41 students arrested at the former Cameron Village Woolworths were released on bond guaranteed by the Raleigh Citizens Association, according to Friends of Oberlin Village, who are hosting the public installation of the Civil Rights marker this Saturday, April 29.

More than 700 people tried to attend the first day of the trial, and the protesters were found guilty.

However, lawyers combined four of the students' cases in an appeal, as a test for the others. The appellate court dismissed the case, and cases against the remaining students were not pursued. This was hailed as "the first major legal breakthrough in the student sit-down situation."

The sit-down movement across the south inspired young people to engage in non-violent protests. It gave the Congress for Racial Equity (CORE) leverage in negotiating agreements with chain stores and spurred the creation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at Shaw University.

Be there for a historic moment: Installing the Civil Rights marker in the Village District

Friends of Oberlin Village applied for the Civil Rights marker in recognition of the protests and were successfully awarded status on the North Carolina Civil Rights Trail.

The unveiling of the marker will take place on Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 1 p.m. in the 400 block of Woodburn Avenue in the Village District, where once-arrested student, now reverend David C. Forbes will share stories and experiences from the Civil Rights movement. People are invited to experience the historic moment. Immediately afterwards at 2 p.m., Forbes and other students involved in the 1960s sit-ins will hold a panel conversation at Oberlin Regional Library.

Later that same day, the public is invited to celebrate and support Raleigh's Black history in Historic Oberlin Village. The family-friendly event will include trolley tours, jazz music, a marketplace to support local Black businesses, a pop-up museum and a BBQ dinner. Visitors will also be able to tour one of the last known surviving antebellum Black settlements in the state, including:

• The 3-acre Oberlin Cemetery, established in 1873 soon after emancipation
• The site of the lost Latta University, a segregated college no longer standing today
• Wilson Temple United Methodist, one of the original congregations of historic Oberlin
• Multiple late Victorian homes belonging to early Oberlin families

Tickets and information are available, and all funds raised benefit Friends of Oberlin Village.

The historic marker will be unveiled at 1 p.m., and the tours, jazz and BBQ run from 5 to 8 p.m. at 815 Oberlin Road.

On Feb. 16, Martin Luther King, Jr., met with students from numerous North Carolina schools in Durham. He characterized the student sit-down strikes as “one of the most significant developments in the civil rights struggle."