REVIEW OF SIT-IN: HOW FOUR FRIENDS STOOD UP BY SITTING DOWN

 

A. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pinkney, Andrea D. SIT-IN: HOW FOUR FRIENDS STOOD UP BY SITTING DOWN. Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hatchette Book Group, Inc. ISBN 978-0-316-07016-4.

 


B. PLOT SUMMARY
The year was 1960. Four young male African American college students decided that they would challenge a racially discriminatory practice called segregation by conducting a sit-in at a local retail store. They sat at a lunch counter and each ordered doughnut, a coffee, and cream on the side. They waited to be served. They waited. They waited. They waited. The waitress would not serve them because, at the time in this part of the United States, blacks were not supposed to mix with whites in certain places, including lunch counters. So they decided to sit there to make their point, that they should be allowed to eat there, just as white people were allowed to. Finally, the workday ended, the store closed, and the four young men went home. That evening, the news spread about the four young men and what they had done.

The next day they returned and repeated the process, but this time more young African American college students joined them. They wanted to show everyone that segregation was wrong; and that the opposite of segregation, integration, was better. The sit-in protest method to promote integration spread to lunch counters in other places in the southern United States. But there was strong opposition to their movement. Many white people were against integration, and they were abusive and hurtful to the African American protesters. And the protesters never fought back. They met violence with nonviolence.

Soon the sit-in method was also used for other protests against segregation in libraries, buses, parks, and pools. More and more places started to reduce their segregation and began to accept integration. An organization was created called Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to promote integration and other civil rights for African Americans through nonviolent methods. President Kennedy supported their cause and the cause of civil rights for all Americans, including African Americans. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Finally, along with a doughnut, a coffee, and cream on the side – justice was served!         

 

C. CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)
This picture book tells what happened during one of the most important events in United States history. It occurred during the U.S. civil rights movement. It was during the civil rights movement that a specific protest tactic called a “sit-in” was created. The very first sit-in for civil rights for African Americans occurred in a library, the Alexandria Library, in Alexandria, Virginia in 1939. After that other sit-ins took place to protest for civil rights for African Americans. To understand the sit-in that takes place in this book, one must understand that years ago retail stores (like today’s Walmart, Target, Costco, etc.) had what were called lunch counters. These were set-aside areas in the store for selling fast food and drinks to shoppers. Shoppers could eat and drink while they sat at these counters before, after, or in the middle of shopping. In the time in which this story takes place, African Americans were not served at these lunch counters. The practice of separating services for white Americans and all other Americans was known as segregation, and it was legal at the time.

The four young men in the story actually existed. They were students at a local college. They were tired of the injustice being perpetrated upon the African American population, and they wanted to make a change. So, using the methods of non-violent protest that they had learned from a leader in the African American community, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., they peacefully protested the policy of segregation being practiced at the store lunch counter. The part in the book about the news spreading fast is historically accurate also. The four young men were friends with a local businessman, Ralph Johns. He was the one who alerted the local media to what was happening at the retail store lunch counter. Without his help, the publicity may have been much less, and possibly resulting in much less positive impact on the civil rights movement. Interestingly enough, this local businessman was the child of immigrants from Syria, adding to the connection with multiculturalism and diversity in the backstory of this historic event.

The part of the story where more students showed up to join the original four young men is also historically accurate. The second day twenty more college students joined the sit-in. On the third day there were over sixty students. By the fourth day more than three hundred protesters were taking part. The book showing how the four-person sit-in expanded to a nation-wide civil rights action is also historically accurate. The civil rights movement owed a lot to the four young men who started this historic nation-changing sit-in. The setting of the book is very consistent with the historical context in which the story occurs. The customs of the time period are readily self-apparent as the college students seek to transcend the racist segregation that was common at that point in American history.

The illustrations in the book are also historically accurate and culturally correct. The skin tones and facial features of the people in the book are well done. There are a number of illustrations that show the four young men sitting at the lunch counter. The attention to historical accuracy is obvious upon comparing the illustrations to the photograph at the end of the book in the “A Final Helping” section. The Civil Rights Timeline at the end of the book provides information about where the sit-n falls within the overall civil rights movement. The section titled “A Final Helping” gives even more information about the historical context in which the sit-in took place. Finally, the last page of the book offers some books on the subject for further reading enjoyment, and websites for further research.    


D. AWARDS AND REVIEW EXCERPTS
School Library Journal: *Starred Review* “Through effectively chosen words, Andrea Pinkney brings understanding and meaning to what four black college students accomplished on February 1, 1960, by sitting down at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, NC. Her repeated phrase, "Their order was simple. A doughnut and coffee with cream on the side," along with other food metaphors, effectively emphasizes the men's determination to undo the injustices of segregation in a peaceful protest, which eventually led up to the 1966 Supreme Court ruling against racial discrimination. With swirling swabs of color that masterfully intertwine with sometimes thin, sometimes thick lines, Brian Pinkney cleverly centers the action and brings immediacy to the pages. Both the words and the art offer many opportunities for discussion.”

Booklist: *Starred Review* “This compelling picture book is based on the historic sit-in 50 years ago by four college students who tried to integrate a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Food-related wordplay adds layers to the free verse, as in the lines about the protesters’ recipe for integration: “Combine black with white / to make sweet justice.” The double-page spreads in watercolor and thick ink lines show both the scene in Woolworth’s and across America as blacks and whites organize sit-ins and watch coverage of protests on TV. Finally, the young people at the counter get what they order, “served to them exactly the way they wanted it––well done.” The recipe metaphors are repetitive, but at the core of the exciting narrative are scenes that show the difficulty of facing hatred: “tougher than any school test.”” 


E. CONNECTIONS
This historical children’s picture book provides a great introduction to the Civil Rights Movement.  

Look for these other children’s books about the Civil Rights Movement:

Giovanni, Nikki. ROSA. ISBN 9780805071061
Joy, Angela. CHOOSING BRAVE: HOW MAMIE TILL-MOBLEY AND EMMITT TILL SPARKED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. ISBN 9781250220950
Shelton, Paula Y. CHILD OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. ISBN 9780385376068
Corey, Shana. A TIME TO ACT. ISBN 9780735842755

Powell, Patricia H. LIFT AS YOU CLIMB: THE STORY OF ELLA BAKER. ISBN 9781534406230 

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