By On February 1, 1960, four freshmen from North Carolina A&T State University sat down at a whites-only lunch counter in downtown Greensboro and refused to leave. That quiet act of defiance helped ignite a wave of sit-ins across the South, and the heart of that story is still here, walkable, and largely intact. This self-guided walking tour links the museum where it happened with the monuments, campus, and downtown corners that carry the history forward.
Plan on roughly half a day if you tour the main museum, or a full, rewarding day if you add the A&T campus and the nearby history museum. Most of the route is flat downtown sidewalk, with the campus stop a short drive or bus ride to the east.
Start: The International Civil Rights Center & Museum
There is no better place to begin than the building where the sit-in took place. The former F.W. Woolworth store at 134 South Elm Street now houses the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, and the original lunch counter, stools, floors, and countertops remain in place. Standing in front of that counter, where Jibreel Khazan (then Ezell Blair Jr.), Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond took their seats, is the emotional anchor of the entire tour.
The four young men, known ever since as the A&T Four (and sometimes the Greensboro Four), planned the protest carefully with peers, and in the days that followed they were joined by students from Bennett College, Dudley High School, and what is now UNC Greensboro. The sit-ins spread to dozens of cities within weeks. In 2025, the National Park Service designated the Woolworth building a National Historic Landmark, recognizing its national significance.
What to expect inside
The museum is best experienced through a guided tour, and the galleries move from the Jim Crow era through the sit-in movement and the broader struggle for civil rights. Allow at least 60 to 90 minutes. Photography rules and tour formats vary, so it helps to know your options before you go.
Plan your visit
- Address: 134 S. Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
- Phone: (336) 274-9199
- Website: sitinmovement.org
- Hours: Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed Sunday.
- Admission: The signature staff-guided tour (about 60 to 75 minutes) runs $20 for adults and $15 for K-12 students. A seated tour and walkthrough (about 90 to 105 minutes) runs $15 for adults and $10 for students. A virtual tour option is also available.
- Reservations: Individuals and families can book online, and groups of 10 or more should arrange a tour in advance. Booking ahead is strongly recommended, since this is a guided-tour museum rather than a walk-in-and-wander gallery.
Walk the surrounding blocks of downtown Elm Street
Step back outside and take a few minutes to read the streetscape. Elm Street was the commercial spine of mid-century Greensboro, and the storefronts, banks, and theaters that lined it are the backdrop against which the sit-in unfolded. Looking up and down the block helps you picture the crowds, the press, and the daily pressure the students endured by returning day after day.
This is also a natural spot to pause for coffee or lunch. Downtown Greensboro has filled the surrounding blocks with cafes, restaurants, and bars, many within a two- or three-minute walk of the museum door. For current listings and events, the Downtown Greensboro guide is a useful resident-and-visitor resource.
Greensboro History Museum
About a five-minute walk northeast of Elm Street sits the Greensboro History Museum at 130 Summit Avenue, in the city’s downtown cultural district. Admission is free, which makes it an easy and worthwhile add to the tour. Its exhibits trace Greensboro’s broader story, including African American history and the civil rights era, and they help place the sit-in within the longer arc of the city’s past.
For locals, this is one of the best no-cost rainy-day stops in town, and it pairs naturally with the civil rights route for school groups and out-of-town family.
Plan your visit
- Address: 130 Summit Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27401
- Phone: (336) 373-2043
- Website: greensborohistory.org
- Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sunday, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Closed Monday.
- Admission: Free.
February One Monument at NC A&T
The final major stop sits where the story began, on the campus of the university the four students attended. The February One Monument stands at 202 University Circle on the North Carolina A&T State University campus, in front of the historic Dudley Building. Sculptor James Barnhill created the bronze figures of the four students mid-stride, inspired by the famous photograph of them walking out of Woolworth’s after that first sit-in.
Choosing to show them marching rather than seated was deliberate: the monument captures momentum, the sense that this was a beginning rather than a single afternoon. The site is free to visit and ADA accessible, and it is the most powerful place to end the tour, standing where these students lived, studied, and organized.
NC A&T is the largest historically Black university in the country, and the campus rewards a slow walk. If you visit around February 1, the university and the city mark the anniversary of the sit-in with events and commemorations each year.
Plan your visit
- Location: 202 University Circle, Greensboro, NC 27401 (NC A&T State University campus, near the Dudley Building)
- Cost: Free, outdoor monument, accessible at any time
- Accessibility: ADA accessible
Make a day of it
For deeper context before or after the walk, the U.S. Civil Rights Trail includes the Greensboro Woolworth’s site among its national landmarks, and Visit Greensboro maintains a guide to the city’s Black cultural and historical attractions, including Bennett College and other sites worth weaving into a longer itinerary.
Getting around and parking
The downtown portion of this tour (the museum, Elm Street, and the Greensboro History Museum) is genuinely walkable, with several public parking decks and metered street spaces nearby. The February One Monument on the A&T campus is roughly a mile and a half east of downtown, an easy drive or short rideshare; on campus, follow visitor parking signage near University Circle.
Where to stay
If you are making an overnight of it, downtown puts you within walking distance of the museum. The Biltmore Greensboro Hotel is a small historic property a short walk from Elm Street, while the AAA Four Diamond Proximity Hotel and its sister O.Henry Hotel offer upscale stays a little farther out. All are bookable through major travel sites, and downtown hotels make the early-morning museum tour effortless.
Practical planning tip: book your International Civil Rights Center & Museum tour in advance and aim for a morning slot, then walk to the free Greensboro History Museum for lunch-hour context, and save the February One Monument for late afternoon light. That order keeps you ahead of crowds at the one stop that requires a ticket and ends your day on the campus where it all started.