The 1939 Alexandria Library Sit In Opened a New Front in the Civil Rights Movement

In 1939 — decades before Virginia schools were integrated, and sit-ins emerged as a primary strategy for protesting segregated businesses and public facilities in the South — Alexandria, Virginia...

In June 1960, a biracial contingent of college students from the Non‑Violent Action Group staged sit‑ins at Arlington lunch counters—facing taunts, arrests, and even a counter‑demonstration by...