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Showing results for "sit-ins"

sit-ins

Cultural  
  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.


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

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Demonstrators in strategic industries like telecommunications and petrochemicals have carried out sit-ins over months of unpaid wages.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Following the king's address, the collective called for "peaceful sit-ins".

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025

Students at Sapienza University where she works are staging sit-ins at several faculties.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025

Those organizations energized student movements nationwide through sit-ins and demonstrations and by getting arrested as they fought for civil rights.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025

They had been inspired by press coverage of kids their age taking part in sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and protest marches, and they wanted to be part of the action.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

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