When it comes to Guilford County government, High Pointers don’t like being left out.
The county’s second-largest city is sometimes referred to as the city that gets treated like Guilford County’s “red-headed step-child” – to go with a phrase often used by former High Point Mayor Bill Bencini.
So it should come as no surprise that, after Guilford County passed a resolution honoring the 60th Anniversary of the famous Greensboro Sit-In last month, the county is now – at its next meeting – passing a resolution honoring the lesser known High Point Sit-In Movement, which also took place in February of 1960.
The resolution, which is expected to be unanimously approved at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Thursday, Feb. 6 meeting, is being sponsored by Commissioner Carlvena Foster, who represents large sections of High Point.
That resolution is being added late to the February 6 agenda – in fact, county staff hadn’t finished writing up the resolution by Monday, Feb. 3, just days before the meeting. That’s highly unusual.
At the board’s January meeting, the county commissioners had a very large group (seen above) on hand to pay homage to the Greensboro Sit-In. By now, just about everyone knows the story of the four African-American NC A&T State University students who refused to move from the lunch counter at the downtown Woolworth’s in Greensboro.
But days later, in a less publicized but also important event, Mary Lou Andrews, a 15-year-old student at the all-black William Penn High School in High Point, began planning a sit-in at High Point modeled on the Greensboro sit-in.
On Feb. 11, 1960, that sit-in began at the Woolworth’s in downtown High Point. The High Point Sit-In, which led to some scuffles and arrests, is credited with helping advance civil rights in that city.
