Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, NBC News, The Atlantic, Business Insider and other outlets. Together they have three children. 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. When four Black students refused to move from a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960, nation-wide student activism gained momentum. Their names were Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. 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. 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. Hudgens had participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation against racial segregation on interstate buses. Led by four North Carolina A&T Students - Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan (then Ezell Blair, Jr.) and David Richmond, the nonviolent protests lasted over five months. Movies. 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. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "Photo of Jibreel Khazan Receiving Award (Ezell Blair, Jr.)" (1961). They were all students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. Ezell Blair, Jr. (later Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond organized the sit-in. They were asked to leave. They told him to do what he must and to carry himself with dignity and grace. The reaction was ugly in the short-term, but in the long-term the protests spread and made real change. In 1991, Khazan received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from North Carolina A&T State University. Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities 2023 |. Powered by. 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. On February 1, 1960, four college students - Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil - sat read more. 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. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. Blair was president of the junior class, the student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress of Racial Equality. His life was threatened, so he moved to a mountain community, according to Carolina Theatre. 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. 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. The Greensboro sit-in. 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. Lunch counter sit-ins then moved beyond Greensboro to North Carolina cities such as Charlotte, Durham and Winston-Salem. [5] Khazan stated that he had seen a documentary on Mohandas Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. 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. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. David Richmond died young. [10] On October 12, 2021, Khazan was honored with the renaming of a city park in the west end of New Bedford, MA. Together they have three children. Original materials provided by the University of Kentucky and Yale University libraries and digitized with the permission of the Warren estate. according to the Civil Rights Digital Library. McNeil worked in the university library with a fellow activist, Eula Hudgens, who encouraged him to protest. Digital archive created and designed by the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. 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. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Blair was president of the junior class, the student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress of Racial Equality. In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. 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. 0 54. Touring history with Avett Brothers' bassist Bob Crawford. Khazan received his early education from Dudley High School, where his father taught. He then went into computer sales and worked as a stockbroker and commercial banker. All four were students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. The four North Carolina A & T students are (L-R): David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil. In 1991, Khazan received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from North Carolina A&T State University. [3] His father was a member of the NAACP and very vocal on the subject of racial injustices and "things naturally rubbed off on me", described Khazan in a 1974 interview. We strive for accuracy and fairness. 20072023 Blackpast.org. 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. 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. 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. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. 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. By simply remaining in their seats peacefully and quietly, they flummoxed the staff and left them unsure on how to enforce their whites-only rule. By Birth Year | By Birth Month | By Death Year | By Death Month | Random, Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Copyright. [6], The sit-in demonstrations were just the beginning of Khazan's community involvement. 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. 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. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. 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. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. 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. In some cases, they may conflict with strongly held cultural values, beliefs or restrictions. Ezell Blair begins this interview by describing his participation in the Greensboro student sit-in and describes the students Ezell Blair, Stokely Carmichael, Lucy Thornton and Jean Wheeler. CNN.com describes what the students went through when they staged the Greensboro sit-in. 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. As its members faced increased violence, however, SNCC became more militant, and by the late 1960s it was advocating the Black Power philosophy of Stokely Carmichael (SNCCs chairman from 1966-67) and his successor, H. Rap Brown. Some content (or its descriptions) found on this site may be harmful and difficult to view. 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. After the Greensboro sit-ins, Blair became a prominent civil rights activist and organizer. Description. On February 1, 1960, the four students sat down at the lunch counter at the Woolworths in downtown Greensboro, where the official policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites. The next day, they returned to the store with more students and continued their sit-in protest. The sit-in protest continued for several days and soon spread throughout the South, sparking a new phase of the Civil Rights Movement. 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. in sociology in 1963. For starters, according to History.com, they were upset about the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, who was slain after being accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Martin Luther King Jr. to join them in integrating the cafeteria at Richs Department Store in Atlanta in 1960, Guzmn says. [1][2], Khazan was born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr. on October 18, 1941, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The February One Monument is an important landmark on A&T's campus that sets it apart from other institutions. McCain was one of four N.C. A&T students who led sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro in 1960. Eventually the manager closed the store early and the men leftwith the rest of the customers. 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. 2023, Charter Communications, all rights reserved. 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 Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (1941- ), referred to as Izell Blair inWho Speaks for the Negro?, is an American civil rights activist. His father was a member of the NAACP and very vocal on the subject of racial injustices and "things naturally rubbed off on me", described Khazan in a 1974 interview. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. 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. Updated: January 29, 2021 | Original: July 28, 2020. They also worked with the NAACP to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed. The students came to be called the Greensboro Four. They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques of Mahatma Gandhi. But they did not move. 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. He was a student government leader. In 1958, Khazan heard King speak at the local Bennett College. The sit-in demonstrations were just the beginning of Khazan's community involvement. On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. The store manager then approached the men, asking them to leave. The Greensboro sit-ins are considered one of the biggest events of the Civil Rights Movement and set the standard for modern nonviolent protest and resistance. It took months, but on July 25, 1960, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was finally integrated. His breaking point was when he was not served a hot dog at the Greensboro bus terminal, according to Carolina Theatre. Counters in other cities did the same in subsequent months. As he had been labeled a "troublemaker" for his role in the Greensboro Sit-Ins, life in Greensboro became difficult for Khazan. 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. Click here to sign up for email and text alerts. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. Death Fact Check Ezell is alive and kicking and is currently 81 years old. "[5], In 1959, Khazan graduated from James B. Dudley High School, and entered the A&T College of North Carolina. Then, the next day, they returned to do it all over again, according to CNN. They also did not give up their seats when a police officer arrived and menacingly slapped his nightstick against his hand directly behind them. He was a student government leader. In three days, their numbers had swelled to 300. 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. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. Jibreel Khazan (previously Ezell Blair, Jr). But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! But the students did not budge. Police arrested 41 students for trespassing at a Raleigh Woolworth. 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. David Richmond, the fourth member and McCain's freshman college roommate, died in 1990. Spectrum News Text and Email Alerts Sign-up, California Consumer Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information, California Consumer Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. There were also sit-ins in Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri, says John L. Swaine, CEO of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. 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. Activist Ella Baker, then director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, organized the youth-centered groups first meeting. 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. What sparked the Greensboro Four, as the students were known, to take such courageous action? They also took inspiration from civil rights causes of years earlier, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott. Khazan was born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr. on October 18, 1941, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Report Video . 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. [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. 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. All four were students from North. ", 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. It was during his freshman year that Khazan and his roommate, Joseph McNeil; along with two other associates, Franklin McCain and David Richmond, devised a plan to protest against the policies of the segregated lunch counter at the downtown Greensboro F. W. Woolworth's store. Eventually, they prevailed, and Woolworths stopped segregating its dining area on July 25th, 1960, Google reports. 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.". Ezell Blair Jr.. Self: February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four. Notes about review of interview transcripts with Carmichael, Ezell Blair, Lucy Thornton, and Jean Wheeler. In 1965, he moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher and counselor for the developmentally challenged. Birthday: October 18, 1941 How Old - Age: 81 Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. About a dozen Bennett Belles were also arrested at area sit-ins. in sociology from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in 1963. He attended law school at Howard University for almost a year before a variety of maladies forced him out. Please ignore rumors and hoaxes. The Greensboro Four stayed put until the store closed, then returned the next day with more students from local colleges. The Greensboro Sit-In was a critical turning point in Black history and American history, bringing the fight for civil rights to the national stage. The figures are depicted walking out of Woolworth's . In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! His 1964 interview describes the Greensboro sit-ins in Chapter 5 of Who Speaks for the Negro? BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. McCain's death left Ezell Blair (now Jibreel Khazan) and Joseph McNeil as the two surviving members of the Greensboro Four. [3][8] Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. The Greensboro Four wanted their protest to get recognition, so before heading to Woolworths on February 1, they arranged for Ralph Johns, a white businessman and activist, to alert the press about their plans. They had a strong Black community in Greensboro that was steeped in the struggle and willing to support young people by way of moral and financial support, says Prairie View A&M University History Professor Will Guzmn. Jibreel Khazan (now Ezell Blair Jr.) was one of the original four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. At the end of July, when many local college students were on summer vacation, the Greensboro Woolworths quietly integrated its lunch counter. SNCC also pushed King to take a more forceful stance against the war in Vietnam in 1967 and popularized the slogan Black Power! in 1966.. 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 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. The Belles resolved to serve as look-outs when the four men took their seats at the lunch counter on the first day. While a student at A & T he was elected to attend the meeting at Shaw University in Raleigh at which the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. [9] In 2010, Khazan was the recipient of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. All Rights Reserved. In 1965, he moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher and counselor for the developmentally challenged. The year was 1960, and segregation raged throughout the country, but the students decided they had had enough. July 1, 2020. 0. 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. We strive for accuracy and fairness. [5] His 1964 interview describes the Greensboro sit-ins in Chapter 5 of Who Speaks for the Negro? Ezell A. Blair, Jr. is a well known Activist. One of the original Greensboro Four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. 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. 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. Upon his return to North Carolina, the Greensboro Trailways Bus Terminal Cafe denied him service at its lunch counter, making him determined to fight segregation. He married the former Lorraine France George of New Bedford. In addition to desegregating dining establishments, the sit-ins led to the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh. Khazan works with developmentally disabled people for the CETA program in New Bedford, Mass. 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. He served on university boards and received an honorary doctorate, according to the Civil Rights Digital Library. GREENSBORO Civil rights leader Franklin McCain has died. He majored in business administration and accounting and became a counselor-coordinator for the CETA program in Greensboro. and received a B.S. Another critical part of the protest was looping in the media. On Feb. 1, 1960, freshmen David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan) sat at F.W. He lives in New York. In 2010, Khazan was the recipient of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering.
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