North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and its community are preparing to commemorate the 65th anniversary of when four A&T freshmen jump-started the civil rights movement on February 1, 1960, with a single act: sitting in at the lunch counter at the downtown Greensboro Woolworth’s and waiting for service.
The annual Sit-In Anniversary Breakfast and Wreath Laying is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 31, beginning at the North Carolina A&T Alumni-Foundation Event Center at 200 N. Benbow Road.
It celebrates the A&T Four: retired Air Force Major Gen. Joseph McNeil, who’s expected to attend, Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.) and the late Franklin McCain Sr. and the late David Richmond Jr.
The theme is “Perseverance: The Power of an Ageless Evolution,” and the event will kick off with breakfast at 7 a.m. and a program featuring retired U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield as the guest speaker at 8 a.m.
According to a description of the upcoming event from the university, “The program will pay tribute to the unsung heroes whose contributions were instrumental in the success and legacy of the A&T Four’s historic act of resistance that ultimately changed public accommodations laws across the U.S. Among them are A&T classmates and faculty, as well as students and faculty from Bennett College, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Dudley High School, Greensboro residents who provided safe havens, supplied and resources to the peaceful protesters and local activists who laid the groundwork for civil rights advocacy long before the sit-in.”
The program will also feature the presentation of the N.C. A&T Human Rights Medal, which is the university’s highest honor for contributions to civil rights, civil liberties or human rights. The medal will go to an honoree whose name will be revealed at the event. Past recipients include North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls and MacArthur Genius Grant winner the Rev. William J. Barber II, the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis and the late Julius Chambers, the third director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
After the breakfast and early morning presentation, participants will walk to the February One monument and lay a wreath in memory of McCain and Richmond at 10 a.m.
The N.C. A&T Fellowship Gospel Choir, which will perform “Life Every Voice” at the breakfast, will also sing at the wreath ceremony.
Over 500 students will attend a social justice discussion, which is being offered in partnership with Guilford County Schools from 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in Harrison Auditorium.
A very worthwhile event. Proud to have this historical event as part of Greensboro’s legacy. Courageous young men changed the course of history.
I believe the song is “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”