In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. This is the real beginnings of TV media; people can see the sit-in and imagine how they would do it themselves, said Theoharis, author of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. By the spring of 1960 the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in nine states in the South. Lunch counter sit-ins then moved beyond Greensboro to North Carolina cities such as Charlotte, Durham and Winston-Salem. Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that spread throughout the South. In some cases, they may conflict with strongly held cultural values, beliefs or restrictions. From left to right: Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair, Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeill, and David Richmond. They told him to do what he must and to carry himself with dignity and grace. [7] In 2002, North Carolina A&T commissioned a statue to be sculpted honoring Khazan, along with the three other members of the A&T four: Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. She is the author of Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision and other books. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. To capitalize on the momentum of the sit-in movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April 1960. Notes about review of interview transcripts with Carmichael, Ezell Blair, Lucy Thornton, and Jean Wheeler. [3][8] Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. 0. After nearly a week of protests, approximately 1,400 students showed up to the Greensboro Woolworth to demonstrate. Ezell Blair Jr. Jibreel Khazan (born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr.; October 18, 1941) is a civil rights activist who is best known as a member of the Greensboro Four; a group of African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina challenging the store . Eventually the manager closed the store early and the men leftwith the rest of the customers. By the end of March 1960, the movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. The four North Carolina A & T students are (L-R): David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil. They waited. He was elected president of the junior class, and would later become president of the school's student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress for Racial Equality. He graduated from James B. Dudley High School in 1959 and began his freshman year at A&T College having received an A&T College Alumni Association Scholarship. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. They also took inspiration from civil rights causes of years earlier, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott. Another critical part of the protest was looping in the media. Today, he is remembered as a hero of the Civil Rights Movement and a symbol of the power of nonviolent resistance to bring about change. The reaction was ugly in the short-term, but in the long-term the protests spread and made real change. At the end of July, when many local college students were on summer vacation, the Greensboro Woolworths quietly integrated its lunch counter. They were all students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. Over the next few years, SNCC served as one of the leading forces in the civil rights movement, organizing Freedom Rides through the South in 1961 and the historic March on Washington in 1963, at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his seminal I Have a Dream speech. On February 1, 1960, four Black college freshmen, Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond, sat down at a "whites-only" Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. and politely asked for service. Ezell Blair is a member of famous Activist list. He had been a high school track star and was born in Greensboro. The Greensboro sit-in wasnt a random act of rebellion, but the result of months of planning. Khazan stated that he had seen a documentary on Mohandas Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. The Greensboro sit-in was a major moment in the Civil Rights Movement. He was a student government leader. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. is a well known Activist. Some content (or its descriptions) found on this site may be harmful and difficult to view. Jibreel Khazan (previously Ezell Blair, Jr). The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. The Greensboro Four, as they became known, had also been spurred to action by the brutal murder in 1955 of a young Black boy, Emmett Till, who had allegedly whistled at a white woman in a Mississippi store. Sit-in demonstrations by Black college students grew at the Woolworth's in Greensboro and other local stores, February 6, 1960. Eventually, they prevailed, and Woolworths stopped segregating its dining area on July 25th, 1960, Google reports. He had to move to Massachusetts because the publicity made it. In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. McCain's death left Ezell Blair (now Jibreel Khazan) and Joseph McNeil as the two surviving members of the Greensboro Four. Movies. Jibreel Khazan (born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr.; October 18, 1941) is a civil rights activist who is best known as a member of the Greensboro Four, a group of African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina challenging the store's policy of denying service to non-white customers. The protests played a definitive role in the Civil Rights movement because they sparked additional protests, eventually making the movement too large to ignore, Google says. He married the former Lorraine France George of New Bedford. After graduating from A&T in 1963, Blair encountered difficulties finding a job in his native Greensboro. In 1959, Khazan graduated from James B. Dudley High School, and entered the A&T College of North Carolina. No one would serve them. Jibreel Khazan (born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr.; October 18, 1941) is a civil rights activist who is best known as a member of the Greensboro Four; a group of African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina challenging the store's policy of denying service to non-white customers. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. Death Fact Check Ezell is alive and kicking and is currently 81 years old. On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. Not only were lunch counters across the country integrated one by one, a student movement was galvanized. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (1941- ), referred to as Izell Blair inWho Speaks for the Negro?, is an American civil rights activist. The Greensboro Four were four young Black men who staged the first sit-in at Greensboro: Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. READ MORE: Civil Rights Movement: A Timeline. It was said that when he experienced unjust treatment based on color, he "stood up." He majored in business administration and accounting and became a counselor-coordinator for the CETA program in Greensboro. We even had people who saw the sit-ins that were taking place at the lunch counter drive from other states to come down here, Swaine says. From left to right: Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair, Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeill, and David Richmond. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. 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But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Heavy television coverage of the Greensboro sit-ins sparked a sit-in movement that quickly spread to college towns throughout the South and into the North, as young Black and white people joined in various forms of peaceful protest against segregation in libraries, beaches, hotels and other establishments. Jibreel Khazan (now Ezell Blair Jr.) was one of the original four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. 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King's words had made a huge impact with Khazan, so much so that he later remarked that "he could feel his heart palpitating" and that the words of King "brought tears to his eyes. The February One Monument is an important landmark on A&T's campus that sets it apart from other institutions. One of the original Greensboro Four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. [9] In 2010, Khazan was the recipient of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. His breaking point was when he was not served a hot dog at the Greensboro bus terminal, according to Carolina Theatre. Word quickly spread about the Greensboro sit-in, and both North Carolina A&T and Bennett College students took part in the sit-in the next day. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, NBC News, The Atlantic, Business Insider and other outlets. Khazan also recalls an American Civics teacher, Mrs. McCullough, who told her class Were preparing you for the day when you will have equal rights., He was also influenced by Martin Luther King Jr. He lives in New York. in sociology from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in 1963. All Rights Reserved. Greensboro sit-in, act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, that began on February 1, 1960. The sit-ins establish a crucial kind of leadership and organizing of young people, says Jeanne Theoharis, a Brooklyn College political science professor. Part of the original counter is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Blair, Richmond, McCain and McNeil planned their protest carefully, and enlisted the help of a local white businessman, Ralph Johns, to put their plan into action. [6], The sit-in demonstrations were just the beginning of Khazan's community involvement. See MoreSee Less. McNeil worked in the university library with a fellow activist, Eula Hudgens, who encouraged him to protest. Frye Gaillard, The Greensboro Four: Civil Rights Pioneers (Charlotte, N.C.: Main Street Rag Publishing Co., 2001); William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980). He had to move to Massachusetts because the publicity made it difficult to get a job in Greensboro. Today In HistoryRobert C. Maynard bought the Oakland Tribune on this date April 30, 1983. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. [4] It was said that when he experienced unjust treatment based on color, he "stood up. The university. WATCH: The Civil Rights Movement on HISTORY Vault. In 1958, Khazan heard King speak at the local Bennett College. It is reported that as a nine-year-old he boasted to friends that he would one day drink from the white peoples fountains and eat at their lunch counters. Blair was the most uncertain of the four who decided to stage the Woolworth protest, and recalls calling his parents to ask their advice. Its use of nonviolence inspired the Freedom Riders and others to take up the cause of integration in the South, furthering the cause of equal rights in the United States. In 1965, he moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher and counselor for the developmentally challenged. According to History.com, they also were influenced by Mohandas Gandhi and the Freedom Riders and their principles of non-violent protest. Khazans courageous actions helped to bring attention to the injustices of segregation and inspired others to join the fight for civil rights. As demonstrations spread to 13 states, the focus of the sit-ins expanded, with students not only protesting segregated lunch counters but also segregated hotels, beaches and libraries. By that time, Johns had already alerted the local media, who had arrived in full force to cover the events on television. Click here to sign up for email and text alerts. On February 1, 1960, four college students - Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil - sat read more. Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Ezell Blair Jr. was the son of a teacher who received his B.S. The year was 1960, and segregation raged throughout the country, but the students decided they had had enough. In 2002, North Carolina A&T commissioned a statue to be sculpted honoring Khazan, along with the three other members of the A&T four: Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. Ezell A. Blair Jr. was one of the four African American college students who initiated the sit-in protest at Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960. July 1, 2020. Counters in other cities did the same in subsequent months. Franklin McCain graduated from A&T with a degree in chemistry and biology. In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. He continued his education at Massachusetts University and later at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice.[7]. One member of the Greensboro Four, Joseph McNeil, resolved to integrate lunch counters after a 1959 trip to New York, a city where he hadnt encountered Jim Crow laws. Joseph Alfred McNeil (born March 25, 1942) is a retired major general in the United States Air Force who is best known for being a member of the Greensboro Four; a group of African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina challenging the store's The Greensboro sit-in was a major moment in the American civil rights movement when young African-American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworths lunch counter in North Carolina. After the Greensboro sit-ins, Blair became a prominent civil rights activist and organizer. King's words had made a huge impact with Khazan, so much so that he later remarked that "he could feel his heart palpitating" and that the words of King "brought tears to his eyes.". Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. We strive for accuracy and fairness. The former Woolworth's in Greensboro now houses the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which features a restored version of the lunch counter where the Greensboro Four sat. The Greensboro Four stayed put until the store closed, then returned the next day with more students from local colleges. The Greensboro Four were four young Black men who staged the first sit-in at Greensboro: Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. By the spring of 1960 the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in nine states in the South. But the students did not budge. As he had been labeled a "troublemaker" for his role in the Greensboro Sit-Ins, life in Greensboro became difficult for Khazan. Activist Ella Baker, then director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, organized the youth-centered groups first meeting. He worked as a janitor and battled many demons, sad that he couldnt improve the world more than he had. A look at one of the defining social movements in U.S. history, told through the personal stories of men, women and children who lived through it. Jan 27, 2020. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. Each of the participants in the sit-in had different catalysts, but it is clear that the four men had a close friendship that mutually reinforced their desire to act. The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. Touring history with Avett Brothers' bassist Bob Crawford. All four were students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College.
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