About the Project

The “Coffee Cup Collaborative” is a creative public art project designed to bring focus to the unique history of Greensboro, NC and the role the lunch counter sit-in movement played as the “Greensboro Four” sat down to stand up for justice and re-write American history. As Ezell Blair, Jr. leaned across the segregated F.W. Woolworth lunch counter and very simply asked for a cup of coffee – Greensboro and the nation were forever changed.

Funded by a grant from the Future Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, the Coffee Cup Collaborative was created by a coalition of three local organizations:  The International Civil Rights Center & Museum, the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro and Action Greensboro’s young adult group, synerG.  The project will consist of the creation of 10 bronze coffee cups, of uniform size with each uniquely designed by a North Carolina artist, placed in selected locations, and accompanied by quotes regarding the topic of equality. The locations and quotations will be matched to enlighten and stimulate learning and discussion among citizenry and diverse cultures. 

A simple act of courage by four teenaged NC A & T freshmen in 1960 emboldened thousands - young and old - throughout the nation. This project again reduces this simple act to a single creative moment, celebrating both history and progress.

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