Story idea via Monkeytime (yeah, he's back)
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The Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader made apologies yesterday for their lack of coverage of the 1960's era civil rights movement exhibited by both entities that now make up their name - the article leads with this:
"CLARIFICATION: It has come to the editor's attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
The article goes on to explain the papers' justification at the time: "The management's view was that the less publicity it got, the quicker the problem would go away."
If the publications had given the movement more publicity, Greensboro may have been denied its designation as the "launch of a Civil Rights Movement" on February 1, 1960. The above article makes a claim to Greensboro's fame now being memorialized by Sit-In Movement, Inc. through the building of the International Civil Rights Museum downtown in the old Woolworth building:
"And though neither paper bothered to cover it, Lexington was ahead of the national curve.
Old CORE reports found by University of Kentucky historian Gerald L. Smith describe two sit-ins at a local restaurant on Rose Street called the Varsity Village in July 1959 -- well ahead of nationally publicized sit-ins in Greensboro, N.C., the next year.
On July 11, Smith says, five whites and five blacks sat down at the restaurant's counter, despite the manager's cursing. They stayed for two hours without being served and left about 1 p.m., each of them leaving a 25-cent tip."
Monkeytime says this "pissing match" shouldn't be a problem for Greensboro, however:
"(There is a reason why) the February protest in North Carolina was the one that took the nation by storm. In a word, persistence:"
The account of events in Greensboro provided by SitIns.com give weight to Monkeytime's assertion that Lexington's two-hour protest, as courageous as it might turn out to be, just doesn't compare to what occured here.
"Went to jail, came out, sat in again. Marched. Picketed. Sat in again. And went to jail again. They simply would not stop.
Still, if UK historian Gerald Smith's claims are substantiated, will this revelation have any effect on Greensboro's claims to pre-immenence in the racial integration movement?
5:53:43 AM 
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