Honoring the Legacy of the Greensboro Four

Advance Carolina executive director Marcus Bass and other former NC A&T State University SGA presidents recently participated in a panel discussion, “Embracing Our Past, Engaging our Present, Imagining Our Future.” The event hosted by NC A&T  to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Greensboro Four — the four NC A&T students who participated in the 1960 Woolworth’s Department Store sit-in — focused on the social impact of the Greensboro Four, the significant strides made since, and the remaining challenges we still face.

Bass stated during the panel discussion:

“It was never about the breakfast [at Woolworth’s]. It was about the opportunity — and never about eating where white people ate. It was about the ability to do what any and all of us want to do: live and exist freely in this country, anywhere in any building, especially public venues. When we think about the equality and access, there are still areas where we cannot go. There are still institutions that won’t accept our brilliance.

Quote Source: DiverseEducation.com

Historical Context

On February 1, 1960, four Black students from North Carolina A&T State University, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), and Joe McNeil, staged a nonviolent sit-in at the F. W. Woolworth department store, a retail store in Greensboro, NC that was known for refusing to serve Black patrons at its lunch counter. Although this was not the first sit-in during the Civil Rights Movement, it was considered a catalyst for other sit-in movements and one of the most notable.