Key Players
Ima Edwards
When she retired in 1993 from Woolworth, she was one of only two employees still working at the South Elm store who was there on Feb. 1, 1960. At the time of the sit-ins, Edwards ran the bakery counter. She became counter manager. She and Geneva Tisdale, the other employee who was still there in 1993, are often interviewed because they bring different perspectives to the sit-ins. Edwards is white; Tisdale is black.
Edwards says the community she grew up in near Elkin was so isolated she had never even seen a black person until she was a teenager.
Audio (MP3's)
What Ima Edwards saw on Feb. 1(:41)
What Edwards thought on Feb. 1 (1:24)
The KKK enters Woolworth (1:17)