The savage murder of Emmett Till had influenced blacks across the nation to fight much harder for equal rights. Four black boys from North Carolina A&T State University- Franklin McCain, David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Ezell Blair Jr.- were firm believers in the actions of Gandhi and his "peaceful protest" methods. It also seems that they were a fan of Rosa Parks, as their methods were also similar to her refusal of giving up her seat on the bus. The four boys went to a restaurant in Greensboro called Woolworth's. They refused to leave their seat, as well as the restaurant as a whole, even though the employees told them the policy was to only serve whites. While the restaurant called the police, …show more content…
The original goal was to arrive in New Orleans on May 17 in remembrance of the 7-year anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The goal and initiation was very similar to that of the Greensboro Sit-in. The party of 13 riders, which contained 7 blacks and 6 whites, would go to each terminal on their path to stop and use the reversed facilities. In other words, the whites would use black facilities and the blacks would use white facilities. They believed that this method of peaceful protesting would put an end to segregation in these terminals. Though they expected immediate retaliation, they drew virtually no attention for a few days. On May 12, however, three of them were attacked in the station. This caused part of the group to split up onto a Trailways bus rather than stay on the original Greyhound. Upon the arrival of the bus at Anniston, Alabama, a riot ensued from over 200 whites surrounding the bus. They blew out the tires on the bus, tossed a bomb inside, and beat the riders upon escape from the flaming vehicle. The second bus was not attacked in the same manner, but a riot still took place involving beatings with metal pipes. This made international news almost instantly. Without a bus driver that would agree to take them from station to station, the rides came to an abrupt end. However, a group known as the SNCC