
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, October 22, 1993                   TAG: 9310220042
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

HISTORIC WOOLWORTH'S REMEMBERED

Drinking a cup of coffee and eating a doughnut at the lunch counter of a five-and-dime doesn't seem like a big deal now.

But a request for service by four black college freshmen at a Woolworth's 33 years ago has a prominent place in the history of the civil rights movement.

The protest on Feb. 1, 1960, inspired blacks to stage sit-ins in communities around the country and helped lead to the end of desegregation in the South.

On Thursday, children of the Greensboro protesters gathered at the downtown Woolworth's with about 50 other people to mark the store's passing.

Woolworth's Corp., after granting the store a reprieve during a round of closings last year, said last week that it will be shut down Saturday. It's one of 720 Woolworth's stores in North America being closed in the next few months in cost-cutting moves.

"Thirty-three years ago, I could not have come in here to have a cup of coffee and talk with my friends," said Franklin McCain Jr., whose father, Franklin McCain, was one of the four protesters.

"Today, I know my money is as good as any other man's. This means a lot."

One of the Greensboro Four, David Richmond, is dead. Neither McCain nor the others - Joseph McNeil and Ezell Blair Jr., now Jibreel Khazan - attended the send-off.

The building's fate could be in the hands of First Citizens Bank, which leases it to Woolworth's. The bank is considering selling the building and the rest of the block surrounding it.

"But we certainly are sensitive to the historical significance of this building. We're not operating in a vacuum," said Alex MacFadyen, director of corporate communications for the Raleigh-based bank.

Woolworth's is seeking suggestions from the public about a use for the building. The store is in a district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which makes demolition more difficult but doesn't guarantee its survival, said Hal Sieber, founder of the February One Society, a group started to commemorate the sit-in.

MacFadyen said nothing has been ruled out.

On Thursday, the crowd gathered about 8 a.m. for coffee and doughnuts, surrounded by television news crews crammed into the store's narrow aisles. A radio station went live to the event, marked by speeches from local politicians and members of the February One Society.

by CNB