Located at 134 S. Elm Street in the heart of downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, The International Civil Rights Center & Museum spans two floors 
and covers 30,000 square feet. It is devoted to the international struggle for civil and human rights, and its exhibits guide visitors on a journey through the challenges African Americans faced in the struggle for equal rights. With the historic F.W. Woolworth lunch counter as its centerpiece, the Museum’s exhibits tell the story of the Greensboro Four, as well as other key human and civil rights struggles and achievements. The ICRCM, the location for the Gulf South Summit’s Grand Reception Thursday evening, is the perfect backdrop for our discussion on how to foster more just and inclusive communities together in higher education.
The ICRCM seeks to ensure that the world never forgets the courage displayed by four young North Carolina A&T State College students, on February 1, 1960, and the hundreds and thousands of college and community youth in Greensboro, in the South and around the country who joined them in the days and weeks that followed which led to the desegregation of the Woolworth lunch counter and ultimately to the smashing of the despicable segregation system in the southern United States. The ICRCM seeks to preserve the legacy and the significance of that event by demonstrating why, in the current context, such inherently evil, institutionalized oppression has no place in the human race. The International Civil Rights Center & Museum exists as a testimony to courage and the potential of unified people on the right side of history to make change.
The Museum features:
• Original lunch counter and stools where the A&T/Greensboro Four (Ezell Blair, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond) began their protest on Feb. 1, 1960.
• Educational exhibits, including 14 signature exhibits devoted to the struggle of human and civil rights in the “Battlegrounds” area of the Museum.
• State-of-art auditorium (seats 172)
• Archival center
• Gallery featuring traveling exhibits and community meeting space
• SIMI’s Room, a children’s education and activity center for K-12 students and educators
• A proposed Joint Center for the Study of Human Rights
At the Grand Reception, the museum will be offering tours of the exhibits for the cost of $10. If you are interested, you can either purchase this online through the registration process or at check-in on March 22 or 23.
