First Civil Rights Sit-In in Chicago, Not Greensboro

From the February 23, 2014, Chicago Tribune "Chicago Flashback: Birth of the sit-in" by Ron Grossman. //// It took place in May 1842, when a group of young Chicagoans, both black and white refused to take no when they went into the Jack Spratt Coffee House on East 47th Street. This place was wwell-known for its refusal to serve blacks policy. //// At the time, the United States was deeply involved in fighting World War II to save democracy abroad, all the while when blacks were denied equal rights at home by Southern laws and Northern customs. //// James Farmer was an organizer of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and 27 others decided to test their pacifist commitment at Jack Spratt's. Sure enough, the whites were served, but the blacks weren't. //// The management offered to let the blacks eat in the basement. When the police arrived, they refused to arrest the blacks, saying they hadn't broken any Illinois laws. //// Jack Spratt quietly dropped its anti-black policies after that. //// It was 18 years later that the group of college students in Greensboro, NC, had their much more famous sit-in. //// But, the First Was in Chicago.