This installation with painted greenware, flatware, acrylic paint and paper was created for the 2013 YWCA invitational “50th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement.”
When a black man asks for a cup of coffee at a five-and-dime “whites-only” lunch counter, the tradition of southern hospitality turned ugly. The Greensboro sit-ins of 1960 were a series of non-violent actions that began on February 1 with four black students who sat down at 4:30 pm, asked for coffee, were denied service, and then stayed until closing time. News media and more demonstrators became interested and in three days, 4, 300+ people came to protest. The Kress store’s lunch counter was added, initiating a spread of lunch counter protests throughout North Carolina. Media and government paid increasing attention as the movement expanded to include sit-ins at other segregated public facilities. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 eventually mandated desegregation of all public accommodations.
Portfolio – Assemblage – Blue Plate Special 1960: Lunch Counter Hospitality, Greensboro, NC (2013)
(15” x 18” x 1”)