On February 15, 1968, tension was building in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Black students at South Carolina State College were protesting segregation at a local bowling alley. They were unarmed. They were organized. They were disciplined. They were not rioting. They were not looting. They were asking for dignity. Three days later, on February 8, state troopers opened fire on those students, killing three young Black men and wounding many others.

Monday, February 1, 1960, four young Black men sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. They did not raise their voices. They did not raise their fists. They raised their resolve. They sat—and refused to move.