e (Breensboro Eecofbl
4 Lonely Blacks Woke A Nation
Decade Of Protest Began Here |
Richmond, the only|
of the quartet to remai
Greensboro — had no sens
history late that cloudy Monday, |
when they met at Bluford Library on the campus to begin |
their walk uptown.
Nor did they entertain
most remote idea their isolated |
protest would spread like wild-
BY JO SPIVEY
Record Staff Writer
If David Richmond knew today he had to take action
day that would change the pattern of American life, he doubts!
he could do it. ___f^^™
"Looking back on that day lol
years ago, I wonder now how I
had the nerve," the soft-spoken
' black man, now in his late 20'i
recalled.
"That day" was Feb. 1, 196t
when four A&T State University
freshmen decided to sit a
"white only" lunch count
F. W. Woolworth in downtown|
Greensboro and seek service.
The four youths — Ezell Blai
Jr., now of New Bedford, Mass..
> Joseph McNeill of New York
City, Franklin McCain of Char-
e to other cities and towns
|d to other areas of activity to
pate an era starkly different)
)m the day before.
"S r.; m e t i m e later we were
I'uestioned by sociologists and
■■ychiatrists about how we happened to do this," said Rich-!
"They explained we were war
babies; our fathers had been
overseas and seen how it was
there; they brought us up with
that knowledge," he recalled the
nalysis.
"We were told that motivated
us to seek a change," he said.
"That didn't make sense to me
then and it doesn't now."
Richmond feels the time was
right, the place was Greensboro,
the four were there and they did
it. In some towns, he believes,
they couldn't have carried it off.
"The four of us had beenl
talking about this for somef
[weeks," he said. "It just
ight that we could buy|
anything we wanted at other
u n t e r s in stores but
Idn't sit at the lunch cou:
and drink a cup of coffee.
The walk uptown took about
15 minutes, Richmond figures.
The four bought school supplies,
shoe polish and toothpaste at
other Woolworth counters.
"The color of the shoe polish?
Sure, I remember. It was black
because we all were in the Air
ROTC and we wore black
shoes," he said.
The lunch counter was almost
empty when the four took their
"A colored lady came over
and asked us what we were
doing there, that we weren't
supposed to sit there," he re
| called. "She got the counter
vanager who sot the store manager." Q) :
The manager'asked the youths
to leave but they remained seated. They asked for cups on
coffee but were not served. As
they sat there they tried to keep
up their courage, assuring each
other that everything was going
'■-* -- they had planned, Richmond said.
"We figured we would be arrested and we were prepared,"
he said. "The police came but
[they didn't do anything. It was
ibout closing time for the store
io they closed it — maybe it
ivas a little early."
The youths were relieved and
encouraged. They had broken
with tradition. Nothing had happened. They felt they might ac-|
complish what they had set out:
tc\do.
c on campus, they got
with friends in the cc...
1 munity\and campus leaders to
I
mobilize forces to carry forward
with the effort. The rest is history. Slowly, and with difficulty,
place after place lowered its
'barriers until a newcomer to th°
•ity today would never kno\
that public facilities had not
(always been integrated.
But, Richmond feels, integra-
on has not penetrated som<
| areas.
"The pattern has moved from
a material thing — something
you could get hold of — to a
philosophical thing," he said.
He feels that is why the movement has shifted from nonvioi
ce to militancy.
"I think we're going to see
ore violence in the 70's," h«
id.
"Yes, I've considered t redirection but I can't take it," h<
continued. "So you shoot some
body. He's dead. You're in trou
ble. What good is it."
Richmond sees his three
friends from time to time. He
was with Franklin McCain, a
textile official over the week
|end.
'We sat up all night talking,
|he said.
Blair holds down a professiot
al job in Boston, near Nev
Bedford. NcNeill recently left
the Air Force as a major. He ;°
now with a business machi
firm in New York City.
All still adhere to the nonvL.
ence principle but when they get
together they argue endlessly
about what is the most impor-,
tant next step on the road to
complete integration, said Rich-
The four knew that other students in many places were talk
ing along similar lines but no
body was taking the plunge.
All had read extensively from
the writings of Ghandi on passive resistance. They were well-
versed in the facts of the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott. They
had studied the court findings in
the 1954 school decision.
'But I guess primarily it was
|Ghandi's ideas which influenced
sTnbst," Richmond said.
He recalls no particular signif-
I icance to Feb. 1 or to tr.-3 choice]
of Woolworth. The four had de-
lcided on Sunday to make their
effort after their last class end
led at 4 p.m.
'You bet we were scared -
„„ didn't know what to expect,'
Lsaid Richmond.
"We had to dare each other tt
keep anybody from backing
ut," he said.
I On the walk uptown, they
talked about what they would
buy at the other counters before
they invaded the forbidden area, i
'We tried to get everybody in
mood to be passive — no
matter what," said Richmond.
"We were convinced that only
| through nonviolence could we
accomplish anything," he said.
"I still believe that. I deplore
violence. It's hopeless," he said.
"Nothing ever can be accom
plished unless we have sympa
thetic understanding for one another
But none of them is sorry
they took the first step 10 years
ago.
Richmond says he feels badly
sometimes because he's the only
one of the four who didn't go on
to get his degree. He lacks six
hours. He appears to feel the
others have done better with
their lives than he.
However, when Richmond is
seen publicly, it's most often on
behalf of a fellow black man.
Sometimes it's before Greensboro Human Relations Commission. Sometimes it's on a picket
line where laborers are seeking
higher wages.
Last spring, he was at Dudley
High School, trying to "cool it."
He's done some work with the
Greensboro Chamber of Commerce's community unity group
and with the city's community
relations unit.
Presently he works on the
third shift at a mill. During the
day, he does odd jobs. Since his
interest in college was finance,
he expects to do a good deal iof
work on income tax returns between now and April 15.
But what he'd really like to do
full time is work with people.
That, he says, is his dedication.
"But if I don't do anything,
but what I did Feb. 1, 1960,"
he says with quiet dignity, "I'll
feel I accomplished this."
January 30, 1970 I
