In which year did lunch-counter sit-ins begin?

• A. 1962
• B. 1958
• C. 1960
• D. 1964

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is when lunch-counter sit-ins started as a widespread tactic in the Civil Rights Movement. The Greensboro sit-ins began in early 1960—on February 1, 1960—when four students from North Carolina A&T sat at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter and refused to leave after being denied service. Their peaceful, nonviolent action drew national attention, sparked a wave of similar protests across colleges and cities, and helped organize student-led activism (notably the SNCC) around desegregation of public spaces. Because this marks the first coordinated, mass use of sit-ins as a protest method, 1960 is the year the practice began. The other years either come before the first sit-ins or after the movement had already taken root.