Early Wichita Sit-in Successful
Contrary to widespread belief, the sit-ins seeking to end racial discrimination in restaurants and other public accommodations did not begin on February 1, 1960. There were a number of earlier sit-ins, including this one in Wichita, Kansas, which began on July 19, 1958, and succeeded in desegregating local lunch counters on this day.
Other pre-1960 sit-ins occurred on April 17, 1943; May 8, 1943; and April 22, 1944. These earlier events, however, did not spark a broad sit-in movement, as the 1960 sit-ins did.
Discrimination of public accommodations was made illegal by Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, signed into law on July 2, 1964.
Learn more about the Wichita sit-in: http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/wichita-students-sit-us-civil-rights-1958
Learn more about the pre-1960 sit-ins: http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis60.htm#1960sitins
Learn more: Iwan W. Morgan and Philip Davies, From Sit-ins to SNCC: The Student Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s (2012)
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here