On June 23, 1957, Miss Virginia Williams was 20 years old when she made history--as one of the "Royal Seven"--in a sit-in at Durham, North Carolina's Royal Ice Cream Parlor.

When the manager asked the seven to leave, Ms. Williams simply announced, "I'd like some ice cream, please."

This happened three years prior to the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter sit-in. And we know that those activists who sparked the movement across college towns in the South and into the North knew of, and were inspired by, the Royal Seven!

Growing up in Seaboard, North Carolina, as the daughter of a sharecropper, Miss Williams had regularly watched her father dress up and leave home on Sunday afternoons, but he never told her or her siblings why.

At age 15, after badgering her mother repeatedly, Virginia learned that her father was attending NAACP meetings. This, of course, would be a grave risk to his livelihood, if anyone found out. When Virginia learned this, she vowed to leave the farm and do 3 things: (1) get a job, (2) find a place to live, and (3) find a meeting. And when she moved to Durham, NC, that's exactly what she did.

After being arrested, when Ms. Williams was at the police station, an officer looked at her and said to the youthful-looking woman, "If you were my daughter, I'd put you over my knee and spank you."

Without missing a beat, Miss Williams responded, "If I was your daughter, we wouldn't be here for this."

(Mic drop.)

In 2022 Ms. Williams was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Durham's North Carolina Central University. And on June 28, 2026 she was honored when Durham's Union Baptist Church honored her at the unveiling of The Royal Seven Center, standing on the site of the Royal Ice Cream Parlor sit-in.

On July 18, 2026, she will be recognized at the annual gala of the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Get your tickets HERE!

Established by Union Baptist Church, 2026

Learn About the SIT-IN And The Center...

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Video produced and shared courtesy of Union Baptist Church

Ms. Williams Visits The R7 Center!

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What happened June 23, 1957...

And her playful side...

Miss Williams is just as fierce today as she was in 1957.