Lunch Counters

Definition

Lunch counters were sections within restaurants or cafeterias where customers could sit and order food for immediate consumption. During the civil rights movement, lunch counters became sites of protest as activists challenged racial segregation by attempting to be served at whites-only lunch counters.

Related terms

Sit-Ins: Nonviolent protests where activists would occupy segregated spaces like lunch counters and refuse to leave until their demands for desegregation were met.

Freedom Rides: Bus trips organized by civil rights activists in which interracial groups traveled together through southern states to challenge segregation policies.

Integration: The process of bringing different racial or ethnic groups together into shared spaces and institutions without discrimination.