Pioneer Kept Fighting
'Ugly Head Of Racism'
BY KENNETH CAMPBELL
Daily News Staff Writer
She left Greensboro about 20 years
ago after being the first woman to
participate in the downtown lunch
counter sit-ins that touched off a
movement that ultimately broke the
back of segregation.
But she did not stop fighting
against racism or for equality. She did
not stop making others conscious of
the "ugly head of racism." She took a
little of Greensboro with her and kept
struggling.
So said Gloria Eugenia Brown Wise
Thursday as she returned to Greensboro for a celebration of the historic
sit-ins. Wise was honored as the first
female participant in a convocation at
her alma mater, Bennett College.
The sit-in observances will continue
today with the four men — Jibreel
Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.),
Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and
David Richmond — guests at a number of events in their honor.
Programs planned by both a local
citizens committee and by the Student Government Association at N.C.
A&T State University also will bring
several nationally prominent speakers
to the city, including former A&T
President Samuel Proctor, former
United Nations Ambassador Andrew
Young and the Rev. Ben Chavis of
Wilmington 10 fame.
(See Sit-In Pioneer: A-20. Col. 4)
Mrs. Wise
I GREENSBORO, N.C, FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 1, 1980
Sit-In Pioneer Kept On Fighting
From A-l
Thursday her continuing commitment to equal rights
was instilled in her by Bennett College and reinforced
by her participation in the sit-ins. She joined the four
~en on the second day, Feb. 2, 1960.
Wise speaks with passionate enthusiasm about the
-ins and an inspired hope about the future.
"I believe we have made progress," she told a
I group of Bennett College political science students during a visit to their class Thursday. "I measure progress
! by how we feel about ourselves. The marches, the demonstrations, they made us look inward for a source of
strength and pride. Now we walk with our heads up and
| our shoulders back.
"But I don't fool myself that there are no more
I bridges to cross."
Wise talks softly and often with a broad smile. She
is still petite, not much changed from the 100 pounds
she weighed when she took a seat at the whites-only
lunch counter in the Woolworth's five-and-ten-cent
store on South Elm Street.
She remembered that occasion with a bit of admitted personal self-indulgence during an address to Bennett students in the school's chapel.
"There was some soul searching 1 had to do," she
said. "Not as a student body president, but as Gloria
Brown. Could I stand up under the pressure? There was
a lot of risk — physical, emotional — and a lot of pres-
I sure and tension.
"I made the decision for myself that I could do this.
| I would give it all I had."
I Although the attention was on her, she said, "I rep-
I resented Bennett College and Bennett women."
Wise recalled that she and the four original sit-in
I participants met several times before the men actually
\ went to Woolworth's on Feb. 1. It was decided that the
men would begin the sit-ins because "we did not kn
what was going to happen."
Physical harm was a concern.
She noted that once the sit-ins were started,
planning was intense: Students were stationed ev
couple of blocks along the route from A&T to the sto
to report if anything happened; students who had c
constantly drove by the store to report to others w
was going on; even taking seats in the store was wel
orchestrated.
"If three seats were available, we would sit in
middle one so a white person would have to sit n
to us," she said.
Wise said the students got support many differ
ways from other blacks. Waiters, for instance, would
erhear conversations among whites and relay the in
mation back to the students. Hence, she said, w
finally some arrests were made, the students knew
was coming before police arrived.
She told the students that everyone responsible
the sit-ins will not be mentioned in history books
their contributions were no less valuable.
In her convocation address, Wise challenged
students to face the world with vigor.
"You've got the youth, and hopefully the ent
siasm and purpose," Wise said. "We must move
ward. You must establish goals and methods for now.
may not be the time for picketing and marching.
"You have to make a commitment or all the wor
which has been done before will be for naught. We
depending on you. I hope you don't think we are th
yet. We're not."
After graduating from Bennett, Wise earned a m
ter's degree in social work from Columbia Univer
and now is the assistant to the director of the Spoff
Juvenile Center in New York. It is a short-term de
tion center for youth, the only one in the city .
