speak here." King, Howard Thurman and Benjamin Elijah Mays inspired Bennett students to begin protests, and they became known as "Bennett Belles".
=== Civil Rights Movement ===
Civil rights activism at Bennett increased throughout the Civil rights movement. In February 1960 students from Bennett College and North Carolina A&T began a civil rights protest in downtown Greensboro that sparked the Greensboro sit-ins. Bettye Davis, class of 1963, committed to sitting at the white-only lunch counter of F. and W. Woolworth's variety store with students from A&T, and to keep returning until the store integrated the facility. On February 4, 1960, close to a dozen "Bennett Belles" were arrested due to their continuing protest at Woolworth's.
On April 21, 1960, Bennett and A&T students were arrested for trespassing at the white S.H. Kress & Co. lunch counter. On April 22, 1960, The Daily News of New York broke the story of the arrests nationally, with front-page headlines and a picture of well-dressed female students …
