He never strayed very far from the example of his parents, who were active in the civil rights movement, or the lessons of the people he had known as a child growing up in the south. Greensboro Sit-In - Facts, Date & Definition - History They were students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. 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. They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques of Mahatma Gandhi. Khazan received his early education from Dudley High School, where his father taught. The protests, and the subsequent events were major milestone in the Civil Rights Movement. But the acts of intimidation didnt stop the movement from building. 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. 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. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. The figures are depicted walking out of Woolworth's . Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that spread throughout the South. Joseph McNeil earned a degree in engineering physics in 1963 and joined the U.S. Air Force, where he became a captain. 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 McNeil worked in the university library with a fellow activist, Eula Hudgens, who encouraged him to protest. Download it here. The A&T Four: February 1st, 1960 As he had been labeled a "troublemaker" for his role in the Greensboro Sit-Ins, life in Greensboro became difficult for Khazan. [3] In 1963, Khazan graduated from A&T College with a Bachelor's degree in sociology and Social Studies. 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. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (1941- ), referred to as Izell Blair inWho Speaks for the Negro?, is an American civil rights activist. In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. The white waiter refused and suggested they order a take-out meal from the "stand-up" counter. On Feb. 1, 1960, freshmen David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan) sat at F.W. 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. He went on to work with the developmentally disabled people for the CETA program in New Bedford, Mass. He also has worked with the AFL/CIO Trade Council in Boston and the Opportunities Industrialization Center and at the Rodman Job Corps Center, reports February One documentary. About a dozen Bennett Belles were also arrested at area sit-ins. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. 2023, Charter Communications, all rights reserved. [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. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Education - Historically Black Colleges (HBCU), Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. by mcgorry. The February One Monument is an important landmark on A&T's campus that sets it apart from other institutions. The four men who were denied service at a Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina, pose in front of the store on February 1, 1990. This monument provides a larger-than-life portrayal of Jibreel Khazan (then known as Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, four NC A&T students who became known as the "Greensboro Four" for their sit-in at Woolworth's department store in 1960. Franklin McCain, one of 'the Greensboro Four,' dies - Winston-Salem Journal July 1, 2020. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. Please ignore rumors and hoaxes. On February 1, 1960, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), and Joe McNeil, four African American students from North Carolina A&T State University, staged a sit-in in Greensboro at Woolworth, a popular retail store that was known for refusing to serve African Americans at its lunch counter. Recommended Citation. All Rights Reserved. Hudgens had participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation against racial segregation on interstate buses. Another critical part of the protest was looping in the media. The store manager then approached the men, asking them to leave. They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques practiced by Mohandas Gandhi, as well as the Freedom Rides organized by the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) in 1947, in which interracial activists rode across the South in buses to test a recent Supreme Court decision banning segregation in interstate bus travel. Khazan was born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr. on October 18, 1941, in Greensboro, North Carolina. 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. They also worked with the NAACP to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed. 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Digital archive created and designed by the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. All Rights Reserved. We strive for accuracy and fairness. But they did not move. 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. Four Black Woolworths employeesGeneva Tisdale, Susie Morrison, Anetha Jones and Charles Bestwere the first to be served. Franklin McCain - Wikipedia 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. It may be easy to think that the sit-ins were about eating next to white people or about a hotdog and a coke, but, of course, it was more complex than that, Guzmn says. (No photographers were allowed into Woolworth's during this first protest; this is the only photo of all four original protesters together.). The Greensboro Four stayed put until the store closed, then returned the next day with more students from local colleges. Khazan stated that he had seen a documentary on Mohandas Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. In 2010, Khazan was the recipient of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. Menu. 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. In response to the success of the sit-in movement, dining facilities across the South were being integrated by the summer of 1960. 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. SNCC was pivotal in pushing the Rev. 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. All four were students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. He also has worked with the AFL/CIO Trade Council in Boston, the Opportunities Industrialization Center, and at the Rodman Job Corps Center. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Powered by. Not only were lunch counters across the country integrated one by one, a student movement was galvanized. Ezell Blair Jr. - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core 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. They were taking place in a lot of places before Greensboro., READ MORE: Follow the Freedom Riders' Journey Against Segregation. Greensboro Four | NCpedia He went on to work for Celanese Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina for 35 years, and he stayed active in the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In three days, their numbers had swelled to 300. 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 . Blair then moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he became a member of the New England Islamic Center in 1968 and took on his present name of Jibreel Khazan. His 1964 interview describes the Greensboro sit-ins in Chapter 5 of Who Speaks for the Negro? [4] Shortly before his death, McCain was interviewed by his granddaughter, Taylor, who asked him to define freedom. Ezell A. Blair Jr / SamePassage The Belles resolved to serve as look-outs when the four men took their seats at the lunch counter on the first day. Martin Luther King Jr. to join them in integrating the cafeteria at Richs Department Store in Atlanta in 1960, Guzmn says. Ezell Blair Jr. net worth and salary income estimation Click here to sign up for email and text alerts. 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.". It was a small victoryand one that would build. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. Woolworth's whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro to protest segregation. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. The sit-in demonstrations were just the beginning of Khazan's community involvement. Google Some content (or its descriptions) found on this site may be harmful and difficult to view. Four years later, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would mandate all businesses to desegregate. See MoreSee Less. The next day, they returned to the store with more students and continued their sit-in protest. Multiple lunch counter sit-ins had taken place in the Midwest, East Coast and South in the 1940s and 1950s, but these demonstrations didnt garner national attention. The university. 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. The Greensboro sit-in is the subject of a Google Doodle on February 1, 2020 for the 60th anniversary of the action. It took months, but on July 25, 1960, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch. Jibreel Khazan (previously Ezell Blair, Jr). According to History.com, they sat down and refused to leave, after having been denied service because of their race. This was a forerunner to the 1961 Freedom Rides, just as the 1942 sit-in at the Jack Spratt Coffee House in Chicago was a forerunner to the Greensboro sit-in of 1960. READ MORE: Civil Rights Movement: A Timeline. Ezell Blair, Sr. and his wife, Corene, were the parents of Jibreel Khazan, (Ezell A. Blair Jr.) one of the four North Carolina A&T State University students who participated in the first sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro on February 1, 1960. 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. They were asked to leave. 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. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. She is the author of Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision and other books. February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four - PBS Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, NBC News, The Atlantic, Business Insider and other outlets. They refused. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. No one would serve them. Original materials provided by the University of Kentucky and Yale University libraries and digitized with the permission of the Warren estate. ", North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "FebruaryOne: The Story of the Greensboro Four", "50 years later, Greensboro Four get Smithsonian award for civil rights actions", "New Bedford Must Lift Up Celebration of Dr. Jibreel Khazan With a Statue", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ezell_Blair_Jr.&oldid=1143803857, This page was last edited on 10 March 2023, at 00:30. The sit-in protest continued for several days and soon spread throughout the South, sparking a new phase of the Civil Rights Movement. He continued his education at Massachusetts University and later at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice.[7]. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family 2021 0 54. In February 1960, while an 18 year-old freshman at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (A&T), Blair and three other students began a sit-in protest at the lunch counter of a Woolworths store in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. Ezell A. Blair Jr. was one of the four African American college students who initiated the sit-in protest at Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960. Robert C. Maynard, the first African American editor and owner of a major daily newspaper in the United States, was known as a trailblazing journalist who led efforts to desegregate newsrooms and educ Duke Ellington, byname of Edward Kennedy Ellington, (born April 29, 1899, Washington, D.C., U.S.died May 24, 1974, New York, N.Y.), American pianist who was the greatest jazz composer and bandleade Frances role in the Trans Atlantic Slave, African Chiefs role in the Trans Atlantic, sit-in protest at Woolworths lunch counter, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Neighborhood children greet Ms. Gibson upon her return to Harlem after winning Wimbledon in 1957. Greensboro sit-in - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help In late 1959, the Greensboro Four participated in NAACP meetings at Bennett College, where they collaborated with the women students known as the Bennett Belles on a plan. McCain's death left Ezell Blair (now Jibreel Khazan) and Joseph McNeil as the two surviving members of the Greensboro Four. Police arrived on the scene but were unable to take action due to the lack of provocation. The Greensboro Fours efforts inspired a sit-in movement that eventually spread to 55 cities in 13 states. GREENSBORO Civil rights leader Franklin McCain has died. Greensboro Four Biography | Infoplease [10] On October 12, 2021, Khazan was honored with the renaming of a city park in the west end of New Bedford, MA. They mean that young people are going to be one of the major driving forces in terms of how the civil rights movement is going to unfold., Listen to HISTORY This Week Podcast: Sitting in For Civil Rights. Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. A&T Four is more than a monument, it's a moment that - Andscape According to PBS.org, the police were called but were unable to take action against the four students due to lack of provocation. Woolworths closed early that day. Greensboro sit-in | History, Summary, Impact, & Facts Woolworth. In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. His name is now Jibreel Khazan. He was a student government leader. 20072023 Blackpast.org. [5] His 1964 interview describes the Greensboro sit-ins in Chapter 5 of Who Speaks for the Negro? Touring history with Avett Brothers' bassist Bob Crawford. Photo of Jibreel Khazan Receiving Award (Ezell Blair, Jr.) 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 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. He attended law school at Howard University for almost a year before a variety of maladies forced him out. The students had received guidance from mentor activists and collaborated with students from Greensboro's all-women's Bennett College. Eventually the manager closed the store early and the men leftwith the rest of the customers. Ezell Blair Jr. - IMDb 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. In some cases, they may conflict with strongly held cultural values, beliefs or restrictions. After graduating from A&T in 1963, Blair encountered difficulties finding a job in his native Greensboro. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. [11], Khazan is married to the former Lorraine France George of New Bedford. By February 5, some 300 students had joined the protest at Woolworths, paralyzing the lunch counter and other local businesses. By Birth Year | By Birth Month | By Death Year | By Death Month | Random, Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Copyright. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. | Who Speaks for the Negro? - Vanderbilt University Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 1942 sit-in at the Jack Spratt Coffee House, Follow the Freedom Riders' Journey Against Segregation, Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, 1,400 students showed up to the Greensboro Woolworth, Police arrested 41 students for trespassing, Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was finally integrated, integrating the cafeteria at Richs Department Store, 8 Steps That Paved the Way to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, https://www.history.com/news/greensboro-four-sit-in-civil-rights, How the Greensboro Four Sit-In Sparked a Movement. Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. [1][2], Khazan was born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr. on October 18, 1941, in Greensboro, North Carolina. 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. [12], "Civil Rights Greensboro: Jibreel Khazan", University of North Carolina at Greensboro, "Jibreel Khazan (Formerly Ezell Blair Jr.)", "Oral History Interview with Jibreel Khazan by William Chafe:: Civil Rights Greensboro", "Ezell Blair, Stokely Carmichael, Lucy Thornton and Jean Wheeler | Who Speaks for the Negro? A&T freshmen Ezell Blair Jr. (now known as Jibreel Khazan), Joseph McNeil and the late David Richmond and Franklin McCain ignited a movement at the segregated downtown F.W.
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