Elijah Lewis: “I am pleased to rise tonight on this day, February 1, 2005, for February 1, 1960, 45 years ago, became a history-making…”

“I am pleased to rise tonight on this day, February 1, 2005, for February 1, 1960, 45 years ago, became a history-making day when four young men, four young African American students, took seats in an orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. They were denied service, but they continued to sit. Their actions inspired hundreds and thousands of African American college students to start sitting in and sitting down all across the American South to end segregation and racial discrimination in places of public accommodation. By sitting down, Mr. Speaker, they were truly standing up for the very best in America. Some of these young people had lighted cigarettes put out in their hair and down their backs. Others were beaten, arrested, and jailed. Some were charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace while they were very orderly and very peaceful. They went to jail by the hundreds and thousands as sit-ins spread all across the South like wildfire. The action of these students brought about what I like to call a nonviolent revolution in the American South. Mr. Speaker, I think it is fitting and appropriate that we pause to pay homage to the memory and contribution of these four young students and hundreds and thousands of others who followed in their footsteps.”