sit-ins

1. A form of nonviolent protest, employed during the 1960s in the civil rights movement and later in the movement against the Vietnam War . In a sit-in, demonstrators occupy a place open to the public, such as a racially segregated ( see segregation ) lunch counter or bus station, and then refuse to leave. Sit-ins were designed to provoke arrest and thereby gain attention for the demonstrators' cause.

Notes

The civil rights leader Martin Luther King , Jr., defended such tactics as sit-ins in his “ Letter from Birmingham Jail .”

Example Sentences

In telling the story of the movement from 1954 to 1965 — the key years of marches, sit-ins, grassroots organizing and federal legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — it brought the scope of the struggle to a broad audience.

From Los Angeles Times

They staged sit-ins and protests until legislators passed in-state tuition for their peers without papers.

From Los Angeles Times

Over the last 15 years, activists who grew up here — and not just Latinos — have organized rallies, staged sit-ins and formed nonprofits or community-based groups that coalesced into a multifront network standing up for people without papers.

From Los Angeles Times

In September 2014, tens of thousands of protesters began to stage mass sit-ins in downtown Hong Kong, demanding fully democratic elections.

From BBC

Dolours asks, citing Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., when her father mocks sit-ins and marches.

From Los Angeles Times