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A sit-in or sit-down is a form of
direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...
that involves one or more people occupying an area for a
protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...
, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to move unless their demands are met. The often clearly visible demonstrations are intended to spread awareness among the public, or disrupt the goings-on of the protested organisation. Lunch counter sit-ins were a
nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
form of protest used to oppose segregation during the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
, and often provoked heckling and violence from those opposed to their message.


United States


Civil rights movement

The
Fellowship of Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). ...
(FOR) and the
Congress of Racial Equality The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. Founded in 1942, its stated mission ...
(CORE) conducted sit-ins as early as the 1940s. Ernest Calloway refers to
Bernice Fisher Elsie Bernice Fisher (December 8, 1916 – May 2, 1966) was a civil rights activist and union organizer. She was among the co-founders of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. Civil rights leader and union organiz ...
as "Godmother of the restaurant 'sit-in' technique." In August 1939, African-American attorney
Samuel Wilbert Tucker Samuel Wilbert Tucker (June 18, 1913 – October 19, 1990) was an American lawyer and a cooperating attorney with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His civil rights career began as he organized a 1939 sit-in ...
organized the
Alexandria Library sit-in The Alexandria Library sit-in was one of the first staged sit-in actions in the United States, pioneering the use of nonviolent direct action to demand equal rights for African Americans. On August 21, 1939, five Black men sat down inside the A ...
at the then- racial segregated library.
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
(CIO) labor delegates had a brief, spontaneous
lunch counter A lunch counter (also known as a luncheonette) is, in the US, a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server or person preparing the food serves from the opposite side of the ...
sit-in during their 1947
Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
convention. In one of the earliest use of sit-ins against racism, followers of
Father Divine Father Divine (September 10, 1965), also known as Reverend M. J. Divine, was an African-American spiritual leader from about 1907 until his death in 1965. His full self-given name was Reverend Major Jealous Divine, and he was also known as "t ...
and the International Peace Mission Movement joined with the Cafeteria Workers Union, Local 302, in September 1939 to protest racially unfair hiring practices at New York's Shack Sandwich Shops, Inc. According to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' for September 23, 1939, on Thursday between 75 and 100 followers showed up at the restaurant at Forty-first Street and
Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along it ...
, where most of the
strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
activity has been concentrated, and groups went into the place, purchased five-cent cups of coffee, and conducted what might be described as a kind of customers' nickel sit down strike. Other patrons were unable to find seats. In May 1942,
James Farmer Jr. James Leonard Farmer Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement "who pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr." H ...
, an organizer for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, led a group of 27 people to protest the racially discriminatory no-service policy of the Jack Spratt Diner on 47th Street in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. Each seating area in the diner was taken by groups that included at least one black person. The peaceful patrons, several from the campus of the nearby
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, then tried to order; all were refused. The police were called, but when they arrived they told the management that no laws were being broken, so no arrests were made. The diner closed for the night but thereafter, according to periodic checks made by CORE activists, it no longer enforced its discriminatory policy. With the encouragement of
Melvin B. Tolson Melvin Beaunorus Tolson (February 6, 1898 – August 29, 1966) was an American poet, educator, columnist, and politician. As a poet, he was influenced both by Modernism and the language and experiences of African Americans, and he was deeply inf ...
and Farmer, students from
Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mil ...
and
Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
Colleges organized the first sit-in in Texas in the rotunda of the Harrison County Courthouse in
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...
. This sit-in directly challenged the oldest White Citizens Party in Texas and would culminate in the reversal of
Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
in the state and the
desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
of postgraduate studies in Texas by the '' Sweatt v. Painter'' (1950) verdict. Sit-ins were an integral part of the nonviolent strategy of civil disobedience and mass protests that eventually led to passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
which ended legally sanctioned racial segregation in the United States and also passage of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...
that struck down many racially motivated barriers used to deny voting rights to non-whites.


1955 Baltimore, Maryland

One of the earliest lunch counter sit-ins of the
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
was started by a group of
Morgan State College Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known a ...
(now University) students and the Baltimore chapter of CORE. Their goal was to desegregate Read's drug stores. The peaceful
impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...
sit-in lasted less than one half an hour and the students were not served. They left voluntarily and no one was arrested. After losing business from the sit-in and several local protests, two days later the ''
Baltimore Afro-American The ''Baltimore Afro-American'', commonly known as ''The Afro'' or ''Afro News'', is a weekly African-American newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the flagship newspaper of the ''AFRO-American'' chain and the longest-running Africa ...
'' newspaper ran a story featuring Arthur Nattans Sr., then President of Read's, who was quoted saying, "We will serve all customers throughout our entire stores, including the fountains, and this becomes effective immediately". As a result, 37 Baltimore-area lunch counters became desegregated.


1957 Durham, North Carolina

At another early sit-in, the "Royal Seven," a group of three women and four men from
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, sat in at the Royal Ice Cream Parlor on June 23, 1957, to protest practices of segregation. The activists were arrested and charged with trespassing. Their efforts are now recognized via historical markers in Durham. They went to court three times; each case ended in their being found guilty.


1958 Wichita and Oklahoma City

This sit-in for the purpose of integrating segregated establishments began on July 19, 1958, in
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
, at Dockum Drugs, a store in the old Rexall chain.Eckels, Carla
"Kansas Sit-In Gets Its Due at Last"
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
, October 21, 2006. Accessed September 15, 2010.
In early August, the drugstore became integrated, then remainder of Dockum stores in all of Kansas. A few weeks later on August 19, 1958, in
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
, a nationally recognized sit-in at the Katz Drug Store lunch counter occurred. The Oklahoma City Sit-in Movement was led by
NAACP Youth Council The NAACP Youth Council is a branch of the NAACP in which youth are actively involved. In past years, council participants organized under the council's name to make major strides in the Civil Rights Movement. Started in 1935 by Juanita E. Jackson, ...
leader
Clara Luper Clara Shepard Luper (born Clara Mae Shepard May 3, 1923 – June 8, 2011) was a civic leader, schoolteacher, and pioneering leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. She is best known for her leadership role in the 1958 Oklahoma City si ...
, a local high school teacher, and young local students, including Luper's eight-year-old daughter, who suggested the sit-in be held. The group quickly desegregated the Katz Drug Store lunch counters. It took several more years, but she and the students, using the tactic, integrated all of Oklahoma City's eating establishments. Today, in downtown
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...
, a statue depicting a waitress at a counter serving people honors this pioneering sit-in.


1960 Greensboro and Nashville

Following the
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
sit-ins, the tactic of non-violent student sit-ins spread. The
Greensboro sit-ins The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store—now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum—in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the F. W. Woolworth Comp ...
at a
Woolworth's Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...
in
Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
, on February 1, 1960, launched a wave of anti-segregation sit-ins across the South and opened a national awareness of the depth of segregation in the nation. Within weeks, sit-in campaigns had begun in nearly a dozen cities, primarily targeting Woolworth's and
S. H. Kress S. H. Kress & Co. was the trading name of a chain of five and dime retail department stores in the United States established by Samuel Henry Kress. It operated from 1896 to 1981. In the first half of the 20th century, there were Kress stores wit ...
and other stores of other national chains. The largest and best-organized of these campaigns were the
Nashville sit-ins The Nashville sit-ins, which lasted from February 13 to May 10, 1960, were part of a protest to end racial segregation at lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The sit-in campaign, coordinated by the Nashville Student Movement and th ...
, whose groundwork was already underway before the Greensboro events. They involved hundreds of participants, and led to the successful desegregation of Nashville
lunch counter A lunch counter (also known as a luncheonette) is, in the US, a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server or person preparing the food serves from the opposite side of the ...
s. Most of the participants in the Nashville sit-ins were college students, and many, such as
Diane Nash Diane Judith Nash (born May 15, 1938) is an American civil rights activist, and a leader and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement. Nash's campaigns were among the most successful of the era. Her efforts included the first s ...
,
James Bevel James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was a minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its Director of Direct ...
,
Bernard Lafayette use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...
, and
C. T. Vivian Cordy Tindell Vivian (July 30, 1924July 17, 2020) was an American minister, author, and close friend and lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. Vivian resided in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded the C. T. Vivian Lead ...
, went on to lead, strategize, and direct almost every aspect of the 1960s civil rights movement. The students of the
historically black colleges and universities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...
in the city played a critical role in implementing the Nashville sit-ins. 1963 Flagstaff Arizona The NAACP recruited 10 high school and middle school students from Flagstaff Junior High School and Flagstaff High School to protest the refusal of the El Charro Cafe to serve a bus load of Negro tourists from New Jersey. Shirley Sims, a 14-year-old member of the NAACP Youth Corp at Flagstaff Junior High School, accepted the invitation to participate in a
nonviolent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
sit-in demonstration. Each of the youth members were given $5 with the instructions to go inside and sit down. If they were able to order a meal they would pay for it, if not they would sit there. Reportedly, none of the members were served. Joseph Watkins, an official of the Arizona Branch of the NAACP, reported to the Flagstaff City Council that none of the youths had been served and that there had been no violence. Watkins also stated that unless the restaurant had a change in policy, more sit ins would be staged, "but whatever methods we employ or encourage will be peaceful." Simms stated in an ''Arizona Daily Sun'' article in 2017 that, "it wasn't scary because a lot of the people who frequented that restaurant were our teachers, and they encouraged us."


1961 Rock Hill, South Carolina

The
Friendship Nine The Friendship Nine, or Rock Hill Nine, was a group of African-American men who went to jail after staging a sit-in at a segregated McCrory's lunch counter in Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1961. The group gained nationwide attention because they f ...
was a group of African American men who went to jail after staging a sit-in at a segregated
McCrory's McCrory Stores or J.G. McCrory's was a chain of five and dime stores in the United States based in York, Pennsylvania. The stores typically sold shoes, clothing, housewares, fabrics, penny candy, toys, cosmetics, and often included a lunch cou ...
lunch counter A lunch counter (also known as a luncheonette) is, in the US, a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server or person preparing the food serves from the opposite side of the ...
in
Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...
in 1961. The group gained nationwide attention because they followed the Nashville student's strategy of not bailing themselves out of jail and called it "Jail, No Bail", which lessened the huge financial burden
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
groups were facing as the sit-in movement spread across the South. They became known as the Friendship Nine because eight of the nine men were students at Rock Hill's
Friendship Junior College Friendship College was a college in Rock Hill, South Carolina that was established in 1891. One basketball player from the school, Harthorne Wingo, played in the NBA and was an NBA Finals champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'' ...
. They are sometimes referred to as the Rock Hill Nine.


1962 University of Chicago, Illinois

In January 1962,
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
, then a student at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, helped lead a sit-in in protesting university president
George Wells Beadle George Wells Beadle (October 22, 1903 – June 9, 1989) was an American geneticist. In 1958 he shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Edward Tatum for their discovery of the role of genes in regulating biochemical eve ...
's segregated campus housing policy. "We feel it is an intolerable situation, when Negro and white students of the university cannot live together in university-owned apartments," Sanders told a crowd of about 200 students. After several days of protests, Beadle met with students to form a commission to investigate discrimination.


Disability rights movement


1935 New York City

The
League of the Physically Handicapped The League of the Physically Handicapped was an early 20th century disability rights organization in New York City. It was formed in May 1935 to protest discrimination by the Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA ...
in New York City was formed in May 1935 to protest discrimination by the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA). The Home Relief Bureau of New York City stamped applications by physically handicapped applicants with "PH", which stood for "physically handicapped". Marked as "unemployable", they were denied access to WPA-created jobs. To protest this, members of the League held a sit-in at that Home Relief Bureau for nine days beginning on May 29, 1935, and a weekend sit-in at the WPA headquarters, also in New York City, in June 1935. These actions eventually led to the creation of 1,500 jobs for physically handicapped workers in New York City in 1936.


1972 New York City

An early version of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 () is a United States federal law, codified at et seq. The principal sponsor of the bill was Rep. John Brademas (D-IN-3). The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 replaces preexisting laws (collectively referred to as the V ...
was vetoed by President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
in October 1972. Later in 1972,
Disabled in Action Disabled In Action of Metropolitan New York (DIA) is a civil rights organization, based in New York City, committed to ending discrimination against people with disabilities through litigation and demonstrations. It was founded in 1970 by Judith ...
demonstrated in New York City with a sit-in protesting this veto. Led by
Judith Heumann Judith Ellen "Judy" Heumann (born December 18, 1947) is an American disability rights activist. She is recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann is a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. ...
, eighty activists staged this sit-in on Madison Avenue, stopping traffic.


1977 San Francisco

Initially
Joseph Califano Joseph Anthony Califano Jr. (born May 15, 1931) is an American attorney, professor, and public servant. He is known for the roles he played in shaping welfare policies in the cabinets of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and for se ...
, U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, refused to sign meaningful regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which was the first U.S. federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities. After an ultimatum and deadline, demonstrations took place in ten U.S. cities on April 5, 1977, including the beginning of the
504 Sit-in The 504 Sit-in was a disability rights protest that began on April 5, 1977. People with disabilities and the disability community occupied federal buildings in the United States in order to push the issuance of long-delayed regulations regarding ...
at the San Francisco Office of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. This sit-in, led by
Judith Heumann Judith Ellen "Judy" Heumann (born December 18, 1947) is an American disability rights activist. She is recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann is a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. ...
and organized by
Kitty Cone Kitty Cone (April 7, 1944 – March 21, 2015) was an American disability rights activist. She had muscular dystrophy. She moved to the California Bay Area in 1972, and began working as a community organizer for the disability rights movement in 19 ...
, lasted until May 4, 1977, a total of 25 days, with more than 150 people refusing to leave. It is the longest sit-in at a federal building to date.
Joseph Califano Joseph Anthony Califano Jr. (born May 15, 1931) is an American attorney, professor, and public servant. He is known for the roles he played in shaping welfare policies in the cabinets of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and for se ...
signed the regulations on April 28, 1977.


Easement payment

On June 1, 1955, in
Door County, Wisconsin Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,066. Its county seat is Sturgeon Bay. It is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. The dangero ...
, Mrs. Victor Baker sat on a chair over three charges of dynamite, and later moved to her car parked near the dynamite. She blocked the construction of a state highway for 17 hours to protest the failure of the county government to pay the entirety of the amount owed her and her husband for the additional right-of-way taken from her home and orchard along the construction route. The county had planned to pay a week later, after the state sent the funds. On the morning of June 2, the county highway commissioner came by with a check for an additional $1,500 and she ended the protest.


Feminist movement


1969 Marlene Dixon

In 1969 there was a sit-in at the University of Chicago to protest the firing of feminist sociology professor Marlene Dixon. On February 12, 1969, a faculty committee chaired by Hanna H. Gray, Associate Professor of History, concluded that no violation of normal appointment procedures had occurred, but recommended that Dixon be offered a one-year terminal reappointment since the resolution of her status had been delayed by the controversy surrounding the decision; Dixon refused. On February 15, the protestors still sitting-in voted to stop. In March 1969, at the decision of University disciplinary committees, forty-two students involved in the Administration Building sit-in were expelled, eighty-one were suspended, and three were placed on probation. A "Statement on the University of Chicago sit-in" was included in the feminist anthology '' Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings From The Women's Liberation Movement'' (edited by
Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
, published in 1970); this statement refers to the Marlene Dixon sit-in.


1970 ''Ladies' Home Journal''

In March 1970, feminists held an 11-hour sit-in at the ''
Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...
'' office, which resulted in them getting the opportunity to produce a section of the magazine that August.


Gun control lobby


2016 United States House of Representatives

The sit-in began on June 22, 2016, when members of the
House Democratic Caucus The House Democratic Caucus is a congressional caucus composed of all Democratic Representatives in the United States House of Representatives and is responsible for nominating and electing the Democratic Party leadership in the chamber. In its ...
declared their intention to remain on the floor of the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
until its Republican Speaker, Paul Ryan, allowed votes on gun safety legislation in the aftermath of the
Orlando nightclub shooting On , 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a three-hour standoff. In a 9- ...
. A group of the Democrats ultimately occupied the floor through the night, only leaving on the afternoon of June 23. None of the measures demanded by the occupying members were given a vote.


LGBT rights movement


1965 Philadelphia

On April 25, 1965, the first of two sit-ins occurred at the popular Dewey's Restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was one of the earliest demonstrations advocating for the
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
community in United States history. Three unidentified teenagers and approximately 150 supporters walked into the Dewey's location at 219 South 17th Street, refusing to leave in the name of civil rights. This initial sit-in was in response to Dewey's recently implemented discriminatory policy claiming it would not serve “homosexuals,” “masculine women,” “feminine men,” or “persons wearing nonconformist clothing.” Philadelphia police arrested the three teenagers, which led to further grass-roots action.
Clark Polak Clark Philip Polak (15 October 1937 – 18 September 1980) was an American businessman, publisher, journalist, and LGBT activist. Polak was from a Jewish, middle-class family in Philadelphia. He was the youngest son of Arthur Marcus Polak and A ...
, president of the local
Janus Society The Janus Society was an early homophile organization founded in 1962 and based in Philadelphia. It is notable as the publisher of ''Drum'' magazine, one of the earliest gay publications in the United States and the one most widely circulated in ...
, extended support to the protesters. Members of the
Janus Society The Janus Society was an early homophile organization founded in 1962 and based in Philadelphia. It is notable as the publisher of ''Drum'' magazine, one of the earliest gay publications in the United States and the one most widely circulated in ...
and other supporters circulated approximately 1500 flyers throughout the local area over the next five days. On May 2, 1965, protesters staged a second sit-in at Dewey's, although this time there were no arrests. Soon after the second sit-in, Dewey's Restaurant reversed their discriminatory policy. The Dewey's sit-ins helped continue the path towards equal rights for many LGBT people in the United States.


1966 New York

On April 21, 1966, gay activists of the Mattachine Society of New York (MSNY) conducted a "Sip-In" at Julius' Bar at 10th Street. This established the right of gay people to be served in licensed premises in New York. This
action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
helped clear the way for gay premises with state liquor licenses.


Hungary


Eco-protest movement


2016 Budapest, Hungary

Eco-protesters occupied the area of the Kertem (Városliget, Budapest, Hungary) for a protest against the building plans in Városliget (City Park, Budapest).


Pakistan


2014 anti-government

The Azadi March (Freedom March) led by
Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...
of
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...
(PTI), and
Inqilab March The Inqilab March () was a public protest by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), supported by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, against the Pakistani government of Nawaz Sharif. It took place from August to September 2014. In mid-August 2014, Islamic Sc ...
(Revolution March) led by
Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri ( ur, ‎; born 19 February 1951) is a Pakistani–Canadian Islamic scholar and former politician who founded Minhaj-ul-Quran International and Pakistan Awami Tehreek. He was also a professor of international co ...
of
Pakistan Awami Tehrik The Pakistan Awami Tehreek commonly known as PAT ( ur, پاکستان عوامی تحريک) (''Pakistan People's Movement'') is a political party in Pakistan, founded by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, took part in general elections in 1990 and 2002. ...
(PAT) are political, aiming at a probe of election rigging by
Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...
, as well as restoration of "true democracy and social, political and economical reforms." The
Azadi March Azadi march may refer to: * 2014 Azadi march * 2019 Azadi march * 2022 Azadi march * 2022 Azadi March-II The 2022 Azadi March II () was a protest march led by Imran Khan, former prime minister of Pakistan, from Lahore to Islamabad against the ...
started on August 14, 2014, and ended on December 17, 2014. It is considered to be the longest-lasting public sit-in in Pakistan's history. Concepcion Picciotto's sit-in was the more long-lasting sit-in, but on an individual level.


South Africa

During
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
a number of sit-in protests against the country's policy of racial segregation were staged in South African embassies in the United States. In post-apartheid South Africa two notable sit-ins were the occupation of South African universities to protest high tuition during the
FeesMustFall #FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. The goals of the movement were to stop increases in student fees as well as to increase government funding of universities. Protests started at the ...
protests and the Greenmarket Square refugee sit-in to protest for the resettlement of refugees to third countries due to
xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
.


United Kingdom

The
Welsh Language Society The Welsh Language Society ( cy, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, often abbreviated to Cymdeithas yr Iaith or just Cymdeithas) is a direct action pressure group in Wales campaigning for the right of Welsh people to use the Welsh language in every as ...
's first public protest took place in February 1963 in
Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...
town centre where members pasted posters on the post office in an attempt to be arrested and go to trial. When it became apparent that they would not be arrested for the posters, they then moved to Pont Trefechan in
Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...
, where around seventy members and supporters held a sit-in blocking road traffic for half an hour. In 1968 a sit-in was held at the news and television studio and the newsroom department of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
at Broadway,
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, by members of the Welsh Language Society. The sit-in was calling for the BBC to use more Welsh.


Dharna

A dharna (
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
: धरना;
Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''
fast undertaken at the door of an offender, especially a debtor, in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
as a means of obtaining compliance with a demand for justice, state response of criminal cases, or payment of a debt. The word originates from the Sanskrit word ''dharnam''. Dharna generally refers to fixing one's mind on an object. It refers to whole-heartedly pledging toward an outcome or to inculcating a directed attitude. Dharna is consciously and diligently holding a point of view with the intent of achieving a goal. Historically in India, it was a popular form of protest during the
Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
and part of
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
's
satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
form of
civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
and protest. There were also recorded instances of indigenous officials charged with recruitment quotas for the British Indian Army staging dharna as a recruitment tool in Punjab during World War I. More recently, there are designated places for conducting Dharna, and a permission is required for it. Often, those practicing dharna break the permission leading to clashes with law enforcement. For example, the Shaheen Bagh protest was a sit-in peaceful protest, led by women, that began in response to the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in both houses of the Parliament of India on December 11, 2019, and the ensuing police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing the Amendment. Protesters agitated not only against the citizenship issues of the CAA, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), but also against police brutality, unemployment, poverty and for women's safety. Mainly consisting of Muslim women, the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, since December 14, 2019, blocked a road in New Delhi using non-violent resistance for 101 days until March 24, 2020. In Pakistan, the term was first used in 1958 by
Abdul Qayyum Khan Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri ( ur, عبدالقیوم خان کشمیری) (16 July 1901 – 23 October 1981) was a major figure in British Indian and later Pakistan politics, in particular in the North-West Frontier Province, where served a ...
against the
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Feroze Khan Feroze Khan ( ur, فیروز خان; born 11 July 1990) is a Pakistani actor, model and video jockey. who works in Urdu television. He made his acting debut with '' Bikhra Mera Naseeb'' as Harib and later on played various roles. Khan got his ...
's
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
to remove his
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Iskander Mirza Sahibzada Iskander Ali Mirza ( bn, ইস্কান্দার আলী মির্জা; ur, ; 13 November 1899 – 13 November 1969), , was a Pakistani Bengali general officer and civil servant who was the first President of Pakis ...
but its effective usage was made by
Naeem Siddiqui Maulana Naeem Siddiqui (1916 – 25 September 2002) was a Pakistani Islamic scholar, writer and politician. He was among the founder-members of the Jamaat-e-Islami and a close associate of Abul A'la Maududi and Amin Ahsan Islahi. Early life a ...
proposed to use dharna politics for obtaining objectives and latter on Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Jamaat-e-Islami organised dharna in Pakistan in 1993, Fazl Ur Rehman, Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Safdar awan and other political and religious leaders are now attempting to use this strategy for their purposes.


See also

*
Bed-In The Bed-ins for Peace were two week-long nonviolent protests against wars, intended as experimental tests of new ways to promote peace. As the Vietnam War raged in 1969, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono held one protest at the Hilton Hotel in Ams ...
, peace campaigns by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and
Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...
in 1969 *
Die-in A die-in, sometimes known as a lie-in, is a form of protest in which participants simulate being dead. Die-ins are actions that have been used by a variety of protest groups on topics such as animal rights, anti-war, against traffic violence, hum ...
*
Human Be-In The Human Be-In was an event held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields on January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol of American counterculture a ...
* Lock-on *
Occupation (protest) As an act of protest, occupation is a strategy often used by social movements and other forms of collective social action in order to squat and hold public and symbolic spaces, buildings, critical infrastructure such as entrances to train station ...
*
Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...
*
Picketing (protest) Picketing is a form of protest in which people (called pickets or picketers) congregate outside a place of work or location where an event is taking place. Often, this is done in an attempt to dissuade others from going in (" crossing the pi ...
*
Raasta roko Traffic obstruction is a common tactic used during public protests and demonstrations. The transport users affected by such disruptions are sometimes unsympathetic to the cause. Legality Most jurisdictions consider the obstruction of traffic a ...
*
Sitdown strike A sit-down strike is a labour strike and a form of civil disobedience in which an organized group of workers, usually employed at factories or other centralized locations, take unauthorized or illegal possession of the workplace by "sitting do ...
*
Teach-in A teach-in is similar to a general educational forum on any complicated issue, usually an issue involving current political affairs. The main difference between a teach-in and a seminar is the refusal to limit the discussion to a specific time fr ...
*
Work-in A work-in is a form of direct action under which workers whose jobs are under threat resolve to remain in their place of employment and to continue producing, without pay. Their intention is usually to show that their place of work still has long ...
*
Women's War The Women's War, or Aba Women's Protest ( Igbo: ''Ogu Umunwanyi''; Ibibio: ''Ekong Iban''), was a period of unrest in colonial Nigeria over November 1929. The protests broke out when thousands of Igbo women from the Bende District, Umuahia an ...
Nigeria, 1920–30


References


External links


Award Winning Documentary: ''February One''
tells the inspiring story surrounding the 1960 Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins that helped revitalize the Civil Rights Movement
"Sit-In: A Tactical Analysis", By Aaron Kreider
– Essay based on research on student sit-ins.
Almost-Forgotten History
– Story of the Wichita Dockum sit-ins
Civil Rights Movement Archive
~ History, personal stories, and photos of the Freedom Movement
Sit-ins: Atlanta, Georgia
Civil Rights Digital Library.
Sit-ins: Greensboro, North Carolina
Civil Rights Digital Library.
Sit-ins: Nashville, Tennessee
Civil Rights Digital Library. {{Civil rights movement Civil disobedience History of African-American civil rights Nonviolent occupation Nonviolent resistance movements Protest tactics de:Sitzblockade