Going to the sit-in museum opening? What you need to know : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

If anyone beats Painted Plate chef Brad Semon downtown on Monday, it’ll be because he overslept the night before.

“I’ll be there before midnight,” said Semon, who has a menu of caramelized onion and three-cheese breakfast quiche to prepare for the nearly 1,000 people attending the annual N.C. A&T breakfast at the Empire Room , which this year precedes the opening of the $23 million International Civil Rights Center & Museum .

Expect downtown’s cordoned off streets to be alive as early as 5 a.m. with EMS, police, and media outlets setting up early-morning broadcasts. Some 200 credentials have been issued to media representatives, including a film crew from the Smithsonian Institution, the nation’s museum.

The ribbon-cutting is at 8 a.m. Speakers include Gov. Bev Perdue and Franklin McCain , one of the four A&T freshmen who started the sit-ins on Feb. 1, 1960, at the segregated lunch counter in the downtown F.W. Woolworth store.

Tickets for museum tours after Monday’s ribbon-cutting must be purchased in advance. The tours, which last 20 minutes, will begin at 1 p.m. with the final tour at 7:40 p.m .

Tickets are still available for the first-day tours, officials say.

Ticket prices are: $8 for adults; $6 for children 12 and older, college students with school identification and senior citizens; and $4 for children ages 6 to 11 . Children 5 and younger are admitted free, but must be accompanied by an adult.

To buy tickets using a credit card, call 272-0160 or toll-free at (866) 579-8499 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday , or go online at www.sitinmovement.org to order tickets. The Triad Stage box office at 232 S. Elm St. , will be open after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for future ticket purchases.

Also downtown on Monday, WUNC is broadcasting “The State of Things,” live from Triad Stage. The free event is from noon to 1 p.m. at Upstage Cabaret . For seats, call the Triad Stage box office at 272-0160 .

The Civil Rights Museum opens with its regular operating schedule on Tuesday . Tours will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays . The museum will be closed on Mondays .

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com

Panacea

January 27, 2010 - 8:07 am EST

I think I'll skip the Monday madhouse, and just watch the highlights on TV.

But Tuesday sounds good. I'm looking forward to seeing what they've done with it.

MR.SOFTBALL27

January 27, 2010 - 8:30 am EST

Who cares???????? Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah, put it to rest this stuff happened 50 years ago, get over it!

Brentwood

January 27, 2010 - 9:38 am EST

I take it your not African American, nor Jewish. Or even American. History, in all its facets and culture is important my friend.

January 27, 2010 - 9:50 am EST

I am an AMERICAN, either you are an American or not. Not all this African American mess, if you want to be a American and treated like a American then call yourself a American not a African American, and for the record I am not raciest, I have plenty of black American friends and others friends from other countries. Thank You

January 27, 2010 - 9:54 am EST

For the record, I never called you a racist. I'm careful with that term. I felt the "blah blah blah" to be a bit disrespectful, if not cynical. Calm down, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just know that my dad (and others) worked extremely hard to see this museum come to its opening day. Like any museum, it represents a fabric of America, for better or worse, that is a part of our history, everyone's history. And so it should be celebrated, as are the other museums that are also downtown and across our great United States of America.

January 27, 2010 - 10:02 am EST

Sorry I didn't mean that you called my a raciest, I was just making a statement for others that read these comments.

CherylP25

January 27, 2010 - 11:19 am EST

#1: "RACIEST" would mean "the most racy".
#2: Many people do care - even you cared enough to read the article and take time to comment.
The sit-ins took place 50 yrs ago and many of the people involved are still living, so I'm sure this will mean something extra special to them. We need to examine our history, not cover it up, and learn from it. How can we go forward if we don't know where we've been?
I am so glad that the museum is FINALLY ready and I am excited about the positive publicity this will bring to our city.

January 27, 2010 - 1:26 pm EST

I didn't even read the article, I just saw the headlines and commented thank you, GET OVER IT Shirley BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. At least I see where you stand on this still wanting something in return and living in the past!!!

February 1, 2010 - 9:00 am EST

You didn't even read the article but you felt you should leave a comment...
How can you comment on things you know nothing about?
Why denigrate something that others are proud of?
If we would all just try to show each other a little more love or just respect...just imagine what a positive place Greensboro could become.
I can separate my personal feelings towards individual politicians from my pride in the museum. I don't have to lump everything together, but look at each situation for it's own individual merits.

Beachwalk

January 27, 2010 - 5:34 pm EST

"I am so glad that the museum is FINALLY ready"
Are you also glad about the MILLIONS of $$$$ Skip Alston and Earl Jones squandered away, as they milked every federal, state and local government for a museum that could have been built for less than half the money and in 1/4th the time?

"I am excited about the positive publicity this will bring to our city."
Are you excited about Skip Alston and Deena Hayes playing the race card on a hotel project, in order to milk more money out of Greensboro? Were you excited to see Skip has no problem in playing a race card when race has nothing to do with the issue? Are you excited that Skip (and others blacks in Greensboro) continue to make money by playing the race card?

ChadinGSO

January 27, 2010 - 1:22 pm EST

YA! Rock n roll hall of fame? Tear it down! Smithsonian? Who gives a crap about anything from back then! And, and, and the museum of flight?!? SCREW the museum of flight!!!! We've been flying in planes for a long time now! While your NOT (?) being a person with racist issues may be debatable, your ignorance is not.

January 27, 2010 - 1:28 pm EST

Chadin lol never mind!!!

ustaxpayer

January 27, 2010 - 10:33 pm EST

Wow...they are opening a Woolworth museum?

January 27, 2010 - 1:43 pm EST

I think if people and our government in particular studied history a bit more, we wouldn't be in the domestic mess (namely financial) that we are in. Cheryl was correct in stating that you have to know your history in order to move forward. It probably too would be advisable to know history so you don't make the same stupid mistakes again. Obama presents Hope v2.0, coming to a television screen near you tonight, check your local listings.

January 27, 2010 - 2:24 pm EST

No thanks I have comedy central!!!

January 27, 2010 - 5:41 pm EST

"It probably too would be advisable to know history so you don't make the same stupid mistakes again.

I agree. Socialism has been proven to have NEVER worked. Why does Obozo continue to move the U.S. in that direction?

Tonight: Obozo present Hoax v2.0. More lies and deceit.

friend1158

January 28, 2010 - 1:15 am EST

For goodness sake, can we not put our differences aside and perhaps just celebrate something good that may come of this - for the record, I am white, middle class and a tax paying citizen. While I might not agree with the way in which this International Civil Rights Center and Museum was funded and the obvious lack of fiscal responsibility - what is done is done ... let's look forward not back. President Obama inherited everything that he is now trying to resole, he did not create it! Can we not all have faith in ourselves and our country to face the obvious tremendous difficulties and pull together. That said, Skip Alston should resign immediately because of his apparent 'conflicts of interest' when it comes to his political and personal aspirations.

laserguidedloogie

January 28, 2010 - 12:56 pm EST

Why should we "put our differences aside?"

I have good reasons for my differences, I have thought long and hard about them and developed them over time.

Besides, when you just want to be left alone, and other people wont do it, it's hard to just put your "differences aside."

Tell it to the meddlers.

Anyway, the Intergalactic Civil Rights Museum looks like it will be a grand source of contention for millennia to come. There's zero chance of derailing that gravy train.

Ken
http://www.LaserGuidedLoogie.com

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