In 1960, students from DeLand’s all-Black Euclid High School staged a week-long sit-in at the Woolworth and McCrory’s department stores in downtown DeLand. The sit-in was only the second one in Florida and possibly the only one in the country organized entirely by high school students.

A member of the DeLand Quaker Meeting had a leading to organize the installation of historic plaques commemorating the important event in the civil rights history of DeLand and Florida. The effort was enthusiastically supported by DeLand Quakers, the Greater Union Life Center, and many generous donors from the
community.

On February 25, 2024, the plaques were dedicated after a moving ceremony acknowledging the courage of the students, four of whom were in attendance, now in their 80s. A ribbon stretched across Woodland Avenue, linking the two buildings which were directly opposite each other. Traffic was blocked from DeLand’s main intersection – New York and Woodland Boulevard—while Black and White residents cut the ribbon and celebrated the beginning of desegregation in DeLand.