Greensboro sit-ins functioned as a Political Happening for artists

Evidence

McReynolds failed to foresee that six weeks after his article ran, the revolt would begin in Greensboro, North Carolina, when four African American college freshmen sat down at the “white” end of a lunch counter inside a Woolworth five-and-dime and after they were refused service, continued to sit. Within days their numbers swelled to eighty-five and sit-ins spread to Durham and Raleigh—a Political Happening that gave folksingers, jazz musicians and Beejees something new to consider. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1849

Categorization

• SEED: The framing of civil disobedience as a ‘Political Happening’ that artists absorbed is a usable lens connecting political action to avant-garde performance aesthetics.