news-record.com

The Washington Post makes a common but significant error in its story today on the recognition of the Greensboro Four at the National Museum of American History. The first two paragraphs:

For 50 years now, the faces of the students have been etched in our memories, four young men at a lunch counter, nattily dressed, clean-shaven, looking over their shoulders, serious about their actions, perhaps a little uncertain about its results.

Sitting at the whites-only counter in a North Carolina Woolworth, they asked for cups of coffee and were refused service. The Greensboro Four didn't leave, instead stepping into history Feb. 1, 1960.

The writer is referring, I believe, to the photo above from the Feb. 2, 1960, edition of the Greensboro Record. It is not a photo of what is known as the Greensboro Four who conducted the first sit-in at the Woolworth on Feb. 1. This is a photo of the second day. And while Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil were there for their second trip, original participants David Richmond and Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan) were not. The other two men in the photo are Billy Smith and Clarence Henderson.

The Charlotte Observer made a similar error earlier this week. (Click on the second slide.)

As far as I know, a photo of the original four at the lunch counter on Feb. 1, 1960, doesn't exist.

Update: The Post ombudsman, Andy Alexander, wrote to say that he has alerted the editors and that revisions in the story will be made for print. He didn't mention the online version, but you'd think....

Friday morning update: Unfortunately, they didn't.