The Greensboro Four were a group of African American college students who staged a nonviolent sit-in protest at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960. The four students were Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond, all freshmen at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Their actions sparked a wave of similar sit-in protests across the South and played a significant role in the civil rights movement.

The Greensboro Four sat at the "whites-only" lunch counter and peacefully requested service, despite being denied and faced with verbal abuse and threats. They returned the next day with more students joining them in the protest. The sit-ins drew national attention and brought awareness to the injustice of segregation in public places.

The Greensboro Four's courageous and peaceful protest inspired a new generation of activists to use nonviolent civil disobedience as a powerful tool for social change. Their actions helped to desegregate lunch counters and other public facilities, contributing to the larger momentum of the civil rights movement and paving the way for future victories in the struggle for racial equality.