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Very nice job by Ed Cone on our Ideas centerpiece today about the Feb. 1, 1960, Woolworth sit-ins. Ed developed the theme of physical and moral courage to give readers a fresh look at a pivotal event in the civil rights movement. He interviewed the three living former A&T students who felt compelled to act against intolerable segregation in public places.

As I read it, and particularly the references to the strong bonds of friendship among the original four, it seemed to me their attitude was much like what I've heard soldiers say about going into combat -- in the interviews accompanying the HBO "Band of Brothers" series, for example. Where does the courage come from to rush into such danger? Soldiers fight for country and for a cause, of course, and sometimes for personal honor, but also very much for each other.

The young men who sat down at the lunch counter were committed expressly to nonviolence, but they clearly faced the threat of physical attack. Yet they persevered because they had to -- for their cause, their country and for each other.

This is a story worth repeating often, and also worth considering from new angles. It forms one of the most important chapters in Greensboro's history, and its lessons are as valuable today as ever. Thanks, Ed.

A less familiar story to Greensboro readers is the account of the High Point sit-in of Feb. 11, 1960. This was perhaps the nation's first lunch-counter sit-in initiated by high school students -- one of whom was Mary Lou Andrews Blakeney, now a High Point city councilwoman who shares her recollections for us today.

One emphasis in her report is the preparation by the teenagers. They were coached by local civil rights leader Rev. B. Elton Cox in the discipline they would need to endure taunts and perhaps harsher abuse once they undertook their action. Again, this is a wonderful story of courage and determination. Thanks to Mary Lou, and to High Point Museum for the use of a photo.

This Feb. 11, High Point will unveil a Feb. 11 Memorial at the rear entrance to the Hotel High Point (formerly Radisson) on Wrenn Street. It has been created by Thomas Jay Warren, the sculptor of the John Coltrane statue, which stands within sight downtown. Coltrane, the most famous High Pointer of all time, left the city for Philadelphia after graduating from high school in 1943 -- which means, of course, he grew up in a totally segregated community and would not have been welcomed at a Woolworth lunch counter.

Finally, I want to thank Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, who graciously granted permission for us to print an excerpt from her book, "Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights."

Gilmore, a history professor and acting department head at Yale University, is a native of Greensboro. I chose to print a passage from her book about another Greensboro native, Junius Irving Scales, because I believe his story relates in thematic ways to the Greensboro sit-ins.

Scales was a communist from the 1930s to the 1950s and was caught up in the hysteria of the McCarthy era. Communism still isn't popular in the United States, but many liberals were drawn to it during the Depression because they did not believe the social and economic systems of the time (despite the New Deal) were sufficient to address the dire problems of inequality and deprivation rampant in the country.

Scales was an advocate for civil rights and racial equality, and believed the Communist Party was dedicated to achieving those goals. He was never anti-American, and enlisted in military service shortly after Pearl Harbor. Nor did he espouse violent means of accomplishing social or political change. Nevertheless, he was branded an enemy of his country and was prosecuted for his beliefs. He endured contempt, persecution and prison for his convictions -- another tale of courage.

Kudos also to Margaret Baxter for her art and Dennis Shelton for making it all work on the pages. I hope you enjoy our Ideas package.