GREENSBORO, NC (WGHP ) — The Greensboro Four Sit-In touched the entire nation when four students from North Carolina A&T State University decided to fight segregation at a local lunch counter.
The courage that Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond and Franklin McClain displayed 60 years ago is why Feb.1 is celebrated year after year.
“I’m just grateful that the sit-in four did what they did,” said William McKee, a gala attendee.
Ezell Blair Jr. said he remembers the night before the protest and telling his mother about their idea to sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro.
“She said you better sit down and think twice. Do you realize what you are talking about? You guys start something and some people get hurt and may even get killed,” Blair Jr. said.
Joseph McNeil said it was a risk he and his friends needed to take in order to make a change in Greensboro and ultimately all over the world.
“We hung in there. We learned to turn the other cheek, but we figured it out, and it worked in our favor, and we had people from all walks of life support the principals,” McNeil said.
These are principles people of all races can still learn from and be inspired by to this day.
The International Civil Rights Center and Museum honored the Sit-In Four along with others like former president Barack Obama, Reverend Al Sharpton and long time actor Danny Glover.
