Another critical part of the protest was looping in the media. 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. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. See MoreSee Less, Today In HistoryEdward Kennedy Duke Ellington, the legendary composer and bandleader, was born in Washington, DC, on April 29, 1899. In 1958, Khazan heard King speak at the local Bennett College. Blair was president of the junior class, the student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress of Racial Equality. On Feb. 1, 1960, freshmen David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan) sat at F.W. The sit-ins not only attracted new protesters, they also drew counter-protesters who showed up to harass, insult and assault them. He was captivated as King addressed the audience in attendance. 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. Police arrived on the scene but were unable to take action due to the lack of provocation. July 1, 2020. The Greensboro Four stayed put until the store closed, then returned the next day with more students from local colleges. 20072023 Blackpast.org. According to Google, hundreds of other protesters soon joined them, but the protesters faced a counter movement that included racial slurs being hurled in their direction and even were spit on and had food thrown on them. Jibreel Khazan (now Ezell Blair Jr.) was one of the original four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. One of the original Greensboro Four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. It took months, but on July 25, 1960, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was finally integrated. The year was 1960, and segregation raged throughout the country, but the students decided they had had enough. In response to the success of the sit-in movement, dining facilities across the South were being integrated by the summer of 1960. Powered by. McNeil worked in the university library with a fellow activist, Eula Hudgens, who encouraged him to protest. 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. 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. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "Photo of Jibreel Khazan Receiving Award (Ezell Blair, Jr.)" (1961). HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. A Greensboro native, born in the city on October 18, 1941, Blair graduated from Dudley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. David Richmond died young. Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities 2023 |. GREENSBORO Civil rights leader Franklin McCain has died. Four Black Woolworths employeesGeneva Tisdale, Susie Morrison, Anetha Jones and Charles Bestwere the first to be served. McCain was one of four N.C. A&T students who led sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro in 1960. Touring history with Avett Brothers' bassist Bob Crawford. Ezell Blair Jr. was the son of a teacher who received his B.S. Updated: January 25, 2022 | Original: February 4, 2010. Khazan works with developmentally disabled people for the CETA program in New Bedford, Mass. 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. He majored in business administration and accounting and became a counselor-coordinator for the CETA program in Greensboro. Blair, Ezell Alexander, 1919-1997 - Civil Rights Digital Library - USG They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques of Mahatma Gandhi. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. was born on October 18, 1941 and is 81 years old now. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. 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. 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. On Feb. 1, 1960 four Black freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair, Jr., and David Richmond, took seats at the segregated lunch counter of F. W. Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C. 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. 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. 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. While lunch counter sit-ins had taken place before, the four young men from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University drew national attention to the cause. 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. He served on university boards and received an honorary doctorate, according to the Civil Rights Digital Library. 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. 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. 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. 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. Though many were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, national media coverage of the sit-ins brought increasing attention to the civil rights movement. Their names were Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. They have three children, one of whom graduated from A & T. Do you find this information helpful? By the spring of 1960 the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in nine states in the South. 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. "[5], In 1959, Khazan graduated from James B. Dudley High School, and entered the A&T College of North Carolina. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. is a well known Activist. Joseph McNeil Facts for Kids Greensboro sit-in - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. Ezell was born on October 18, 1941 in Greensboro, North Carolina.. Ezell is one of the famous and trending celeb who is popular for being a Activist. Download it here. None of it deterred the protesters. Eventually the manager closed the store early and the men leftwith the rest of the customers. The Belles resolved to serve as look-outs when the four men took their seats at the lunch counter on the first day. They also worked with the NAACP to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. WATCH: The Civil Rights Movement on HISTORY Vault. Eventually, they prevailed, and Woolworths stopped segregating its dining area on July 25th, 1960, Google reports. By the early 1970s, SNCC had lost much of its mainstream support and was effectively disbanded. Recommended Citation. 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), first sit-ins during the civil rights movement, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in. 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. As of 2018 Ezell Blair is 76 years years old. 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 Original materials provided by the University of Kentucky and Yale University libraries and digitized with the permission of the Warren estate. Sit-in demonstrations by Black college students grew at the Woolworth's in Greensboro and other local stores, February 6, 1960. 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. 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. But the students did not budge. 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. When four Black students refused to move from a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960, nation-wide student activism gained momentum. As the week unfolded, dozens of young people, including students from the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, flocked to lunch counters and asked to be served. 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. Khazan received his early education from Dudley High School, where his father taught. See MoreSee Less, Neighborhood children greet Ms. Gibson upon her return to Harlem after winning Wimbledon in 1957 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. Together they have three children. Description. 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. His name is now Jibreel Khazan. He had to move to Massachusetts because the publicity made it. They were students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. Greensboro Sit-In - Facts, Date & Definition - History Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. Hudgens had participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation against racial segregation on interstate buses. They also did not give up their seats when a police officer arrived and menacingly slapped his nightstick against his hand directly behind them. 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. No one would serve them. 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. All four were students from North. In 1965, he moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher and counselor for the developmentally challenged. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. By February 5, some 300 students had joined the protest at Woolworths, paralyzing the lunch counter and other local businesses. and received a B.S. Franklin McCain, one of 'the Greensboro Four,' dies - Winston-Salem Journal Facts to Know About the Greensboro Four and Sit-In Movement - Spectrum News David Richmond, the fourth member and McCain's freshman college roommate, died in 1990. About a dozen Bennett Belles were also arrested at area sit-ins.
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