GREENSBORO, N.C, SATURDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 2, 1980
This Time Questions
Keep 4 From Eating
Anniversary of sit-in movement raises ^~A
BY KENNETH CAMPBELL
It was a little like the Woolworth's sit-
ins all over again.
Shortly after 7 a.m. Friday, Jibreel
Khazan (Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond sat at the downtown Woolworth's
lunch counter and placed their orders.
But they didn't get to eat.
Twenty years ago it was because of
the store's policy not to serve blacks at
the counter. Friday, it was because reporters — nowhere to be found that first
day in 1960 — were asking too many
questions.
Khazan was served his simple meal of
a banana and warm water. But McCain
wasn't.
"I thought it was ironic," McCain said
later with a laugh. "We were trying to
get the thing we came here for 20 years
ago and still didn't get it."
13ut even though they didn't get to eat
a meal at Woolworth's in 1960 or Friday,
the other events of the 20th anniversary
of their original sit-in showed they were,
indeed, successful in getting their message across.
The message was equality.
A commemoration of the beginning of
those sit-ins was celebrated Friday with
the original four participants and many
of the other pioneers from earlier civil
rights efforts present and honored.
The participants were given awards
from N.C. A&T State University where
they were students at the time of the sit-
ins and from the Woolworth's store,
among others.
A state historical marker also was unveiled at the corner of Elm Street and
Friendly Avenue, a block from Wool-
worth's, to commemorate the sit-ins.
Another marker was unveiled in front of
the Woolworth's store.
Shirley Frye, who coordinated the activities, praised the day's activities as
completely successful.
"It surpassed my greatest expecta-
Anniversary of sit-in movement
questions: Where do we go from here?
And, how do we get there? Story A-H.
The day was planned to be historical.
But it was not an overly self-indulgent
commemoration with the four men
claiming credit for themselves.
The original four men made it clear
the success belonged to a lot of people.
Khazan told a 9:30 a.m. convocation
audience at A&T's Moore Gymnasium
that well-known blacks such as W.E.B.
DuBois, Langston Hughes, Frederick
Douglass, Marian Anderson, Mary Mc-
Leod Bethune and "our mothers and fathers" were influences.
He also named, among others, former
A&T chancellors Dr. Warmoth T. Gibbs
and Dr. Samuel D. Proctor and local
NAACP officers.
The strategy for the sit-ins, according
to McCain, was to "catch the enemy off
guard, the most powerful strategy we
had." He said they planned to close the
store and other businesses with sit-ins
and picketing until segregationist policies were changed.
"Beyond strategy, the one thing that
separates this movement from others is
commitment," McCain said.
McNeil told the audience, many of
whom were associated with A&T, "It's
not our movement — we're symbols of
this thing."
He emphasized that the men simply
wanted "the ability to go and do as we
saw fit. That is what we were after."
All four agreed the movement they
started helped blacks and other minorities achieve a greater fulfillment of that
right, which whites already had.
"In the 20 years or so, we have made
relative gains, and if we are not careful
we may lose them," McNeil said, suggesting that blacks are losing ground on
the economic front.
The possible retrenchment of rights
for blacks was a theme pursued later in
the day at a luncheon for the four by Dr.
Samuel Proctor, who became chancellor
of A&T the summer after the sit-ins.
Proctor is now senior minister at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York and a
professor at Rutgers University.
"1960 was a watershed toward full integration," Proctor said. "There were
many other tributaries. The sit-ins were
just where all the turbulence came at a
confluence. Sooner or later, racial segregation would have lost its sanctions, but
no one knows how long."
He cited 39 cases fought by the
NAACP before the landmark Brown decision on school integration in 1954 and
Dr. Martin Luther King's crusades.
"So when the sit-ins of 1960 came,
they brought the best of all these strategies together. One would not survive
without the other. The four men took
the aspirations of generations and
brought them to truth at the Wool-i
worth's counter."
Approximately 75 people braved a biting cold wind to attend the unveiling of
the state historical marker at Elm Street
and Friendly Avenue.
State Secretary of Cultural Resources
Sarah Hodgkins presented the marker on
behalf of the state. Mayor Jim Melvin
received it for the city.
Dr. Alex Stoeson, a Guilford College
professor who was instrumental in getting the marker, said, "The Battle of
Guilford Courthouse marked the beginning of the end of British subjugation.
The Greensboro sit-ins marked the beginning of the end of racial segregation.
, We owe them a great debt."
The celebration ended with a brief
ceremony at 4 p.m. in front of the Wool-
worth store, where another marker was
unveiled, this one containing a replica of
the etching of the four men by James
Huff.
Also ending at 4 p.m. Friday was a
prayer vigil that began 24 hours earlier
at Church of the Redeemer. And the
commemoration of the 20th anniversary
of the sit-ins ended with a reception by
the A&T and Bennett College student
government associations.
