The boycott drew national and international attention, and many people, both African American and white, rejoiced when, after a year-long struggle, the city bus company agreed to give African American passengers the same rights as whites and pledged to hire some African American bus drivers.
Lewis had much more than a passing interest in the boycott: it inspired him to want an active role in the civil rights struggle. He was not yet sure exactly what he could do, but he was a willing volunteer long before he could become actively involved. As King and Abernathy found in their religion an avenue for social action, so Lewis began to pursue more actively his own theological training with a view toward doing the same. He traveled to Tennessee, where he attended the American Baptist Seminary and later enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville. Both of these institutions of higher learning were open primarily to African American students.
Lewis was kept from actively participating in civil rights agitation for a while by his parents who were frightened for his life. But in 1960, after four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro sat down in the "white-only" section of the local Woolworth's lunch counter and refused to move, hundreds of African American and white students all over the South determined to follow their example.
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