international civil rights center & museum

Having recently seen Selma as a family, going to this museum only helped deepen our knowledge of the civil rights movement. Seeing that iconic Woolworth store from the outside immediately put me in the mindset of the sit-ins (and I am a 48 yr old white woman). From the moment we walked inside, the security guard welcomed us warmly and helped us get tickets and then sent us downstairs to watch a documentary on de-segregation in Birmingham (I won't spoil it) and then our guide came to get us. I think her name is Anita (Nita) and she is part guide, part educator and part actor - she really helped this museum and the civil rights museum come to life. Our group was about 20 - more than half of which were small kids in an after-school program, my two boys (11 and 13) and the rest were adults. She explained the narrative to the kids in a way they could understand and to the adults in more mature language. I left the end of the tour in tears - it is incredibly moving and covers some areas of the Civil Rights Movement that we know - MLK, Birmingham bombing, KKK - and also those that we did not - double-sided Coke machines and the Green guide that black travelers used to find "Negro-friendly" hotels, restaurants and stores as they traveled in the south. All in all, I think this is a place we all need to flock to!

During a recent trip to Greensboro for the ACC conference, I found myself with a few extra hours and decided to look up what was local and interesting. I did not expect the find the piece of history so well persevered and the story so well told as I found at the International Civil Rights Center and the story of the four brave young black men who decided to risk the status quo and insist on a seat at the Woolworth Lunch counter. We have all heard the story when taught about civil rights when we were in High School, but standing in front of that very counter, in the very spot the struggle originally took place was chilling. As a middle age white man, I can not really understand the full impact of the struggle of civil rights, but hearing the story of Jim Crow laws makes me happy and sad. Happy that things have change, and sad that it ever happen. Happy that the future has hope and sad that we still have so far to go.To the people at the International Civil Rights Center, thank you for your passion, energy and effort. Keep up the good work you are doing, winning hearts and minds. There is a new generation of kids that did not live in that world, thankfully, and if they can see how far we have come, maybe they can invasion the rest of the journey.

Located within the old Woolworth's store in downtown Greensboro, The ICRCM contains the original lunch counter that spawned the sit-in movement in the United States. It's hallowed ground, a story worth telling, and I'm glad it's been preserved. Sadly, the rest of the museum is so poorly executed that I have to counsel against making the journey. The first thing that ought to surprise you is the $12 admission fee, a price that would surely keep many people away from the museum even if it were justified by the exhibits. What $12 gets you is an obligatory hour-long tour, which seemed like a profoundly bizarre choice. Why can't a person explore the museum at their own pace? Instead one is ushered along hurriedly by a guide; mine seemed both uninterested in taking questions and prone to exaggeration (she said, incorrectly, that it was illegal to teach black children to read in apartheid South Africa). The artifacts are in many cases very interesting and the lunch counter is certainly the highlight, the videos that dramatize the planning of the sit-in by the A&T Four and the sit-in itself are very cool. It's unfortunate that the museum spends so little time taking about the actual sit-ins. Nowhere in the museum did I find any oral history or meaningful quotations from the actual A&T Four, Greensboro activists, or anybody involved in the sit-in movement. Instead the lion's share of the museum focuses on the Civil Rights Movement with a perspective so broad and nonspecific that there's little here that you wouldn't find in a good middle school history textbook. Don't get me wrong, the facility is beautiful. I just wish the curators had focused more on Greensboro and the sit-ins than on trying and inevitably failing to tell the whole story of the Civil Rights Movement. As an industrial city in the upper South with several august colleges, black and white, taking an in-depth look at Greensboro might reveal a microcosm of the whole South in 1960 (one gets glimmers of this at the Greensboro Historical Museum, which, by the way, is free). By combining an awareness of the national movement with unique stories one can only find in Greensboro, I think the museum could be immensely improved. I wanted to love it, I really did. But it has a long way to go.

Awesome place to take children and adults to see how our people fought and gave their lives for us. Young people really need to wake up and see the bigger picture and make a difference

The Civil Rights suffers from poor management, favoritism by certain government individuals, continually wanting financial support, but not wanting accept to necessary legal regulations.The last manage this passed year, was trying to bring things around, but was fired because he didn't kow tow to the right people. HOT MESS! MLK would be disappointed.

This thing is nothing but a waste of taxpayer money, a pet project of a few that have managed to fill their pockets with our money.And it shows in how the place is run.

I am 100% satisfied with my tour of the museum!!! I think everyone should go check this out!!! Educate yourself about what this movement did in the history of the us for all races!!! I appreciate learning how many Caucasian people stood along side African Americans to make change! Unity! That's what we are built on! Lets get back to those days and let's portray the unity in the schools!!!! Let's promote unity amongst all people!!!!

By chance, we visited the museum the day before the 55th anniversary of the lunch counter sit-in and met two of the Greensboro Four who are still living and were in town to mark the occasion. That chance encounter with living history aside, the museum does an excellent job telling the remarkable story of four brave young men who took such a risk in challenging a system of institutionalized discrimination and inequality. The lunch counter where they sat -- followed by many others -- has been preserved, and their story was conveyed during our visit by a knowledgeable guide. The museum places the story within the broader context of the Jim Crow South and many of the events that defined the Civil Rights movement in Greensboro, North Carolina and the nation. Well worth the visit.

I visited on MLK day and I'm glad the museum is here. I was a young boy and teen during the 50's and 60's so I lived witnessed a lot of things that they attempt to chronicle at the museum. I think that with more audio and video stations the museum could and should be brought to life. In my own humble opinion the current ownership and stewardship may be keeping it from realizing its full potential. However, it's a story that must be told and a history that must be preserved. Spend some time and thought in this historically significant museum.

This museum is in the same Woolworth's Building that was the scene of the famous first sit-in, carried out by young Black students to demand service at a whites-only restaurant. The actual counter where this brave act took place is still there! However, there's much more to this museum. It's full of historical facts, historical objects, and historical displays. I expected a relatively small museum, with the lunch counter as its highlight. Well, the lunch counter is there, and it is, indeed, a highlight, but there is so much more.If you're anywhere near Greensboro, don't miss this museum! (We've been to many, many museums, but this one is the best in its category.) Incidentally, we were so moved by the exhibits that we drove to A&T university, where there's a very impressive monument to the four young men.

There are few places in this country that tell the accurate, sometimes difficult to hear, story of the Civil Rights Movement. The International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro does an excellent job. The tour guide was so knowledgeable and passionate about the history. It was a guided tour which was nice because it added a lot of context to the historical content. The gift shop is full of excellent books for all ages to learn more about black history - books you wouldn't easily find otherwise. It's really a must see!

An important museum, run really badly, which is unfortunate given the need for all of us, especially the young, unaware of the early ugly practices of racism in our society. I hope this institution can survive but it clearly needs attitude adjustment and far more professionalism in its running.

Really enjoyed visiting the museum. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and presented the information in a non bias, non political way. There are no self guided parts of the tour so you did not have time to read or observe the things that were of interest to you, The tour takes about an hour with only about 10 minutes to sit. If you can't stand for long periods of times or have small restless children you might not want to consider the tour.

Took the tour this week. Very disappointing. You must tour with guide who had bad attitude (didn't want to be there). While the had Jewish Hanukkah decorations no Christmas decorations. While I recognize and applaud the civil rights movement and the sit in event, this is a waste of tax payer money and I would not recommend.

Dont be tempted by the self guided tours offered at half price. The best feature of this museum is its docents which tell the story of the four college students who kicked off the civil rights movement with their quiet insistence that they be served at this Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC.Unlike most museums, this one is located in the building where the event took place and the original lunch counter and chairs which protesters occupied from January 1 through July 25, 1960 are still there. The rest of the museum tells a powerful story of what it was like to live through the Jim Crow laws of the time.Parents of very young children may want to take tour guides up on the offer to skip the "Hall of Shame" as graphic photographs showing the violence of the time including lynchings are included and described by tour guides.Leave your camera at home. Photographs inside the exhibits, including of the lunch counter, are not allowed.