The four black college students who in 1960 began lunch counter sit-ins to protest white-only laws would belong to the:

Post -conventional level of morality.

Explanation:

The post-conventional level is a moral development in individuals. People in this stage of development are involved with the rights and controlled by their ethical beliefs.

Segregation was common in the South because of Jim Crow laws, which kept public buildings like libraries, restaurant, lunch counters, parks, theatres, and swimming pools segregated. The sit-in protests drew public attention to these inequities.

it was on the rise and doing very well and would continue to do well until the great depression from 1929-1939