Segregated lunch counters were a common feature of the Jim Crow era in the United States, particularly in the southern states. These lunch counters were places where African Americans were not allowed to sit and eat alongside white customers. Instead, they were relegated to separate, usually smaller, and often less desirable dining areas or served at a back door or take-out window.

One of the most well-known instances of resistance to segregated lunch counters was the sit-in movement of the early 1960s. African American college students across the South, inspired by the nonviolent tactics of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., staged sit-ins at whites-only lunch counters to protest segregation and demand equal treatment. These sit-ins were met with violence and arrests by authorities and white supremacists, but they also garnered national attention and helped to galvanize support for the civil rights movement.

The most famous of these sit-ins took place at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. The students who participated in the sit-in were refused service but remained seated at the counter day after day, sparking similar protests in cities across the South.

These actions ultimately led to the desegregation of lunch counters and other public accommodations, as well as broader advances in civil rights for African Americans in the United States. The legacy of the sit-in movement and the fight against segregated lunch counters continues to inspire activists fighting for racial justice today.