It may be easy to think that the sit-ins were about eating next to white people or about a hotdog and a coke, but, of course, it was more complex than that, Guzmn says. Counters in other cities did the same in subsequent months. This was a forerunner to the 1961 Freedom Rides, just as the 1942 sit-in at the Jack Spratt Coffee House in Chicago was a forerunner to the Greensboro sit-in of 1960. GREENSBORO Civil rights leader Franklin McCain has died. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "Photo of Jibreel Khazan Receiving Award (Ezell Blair, Jr.)" (1961). The store manager then approached the men, asking them to leave. He worked as a janitor and battled many demons, sad that he couldnt improve the world more than he had. [4] Shortly before his death, McCain was interviewed by his granddaughter, Taylor, who asked him to define freedom. They waited some more. They were all students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. Blair, along with Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond, decided to stage the sit-in protest as a way of challenging the racial segregation that was prevalent in their community. The Belles resolved to serve as look-outs when the four men took their seats at the lunch counter on the first day. As he had been labeled a "troublemaker" for his role in the Greensboro Sit-Ins, life in Greensboro became difficult for Khazan. According to History.com, they sat down and refused to leave, after having been denied service because of their race. Jibreel Khazan (previously Ezell Blair, Jr). HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. The Greensboro Four were four young Black men who staged the first sit-in at Greensboro: Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. Four years later, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would mandate all businesses to desegregate. McNeil worked in the university library with a fellow activist, Eula Hudgens, who encouraged him to protest. Together they have three children. Led by four North Carolina A&T Students - Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan (then Ezell Blair, Jr.) and David Richmond, the nonviolent protests lasted over five months. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. was born on October 18, 1941 and is 81 years old now. The sit-in demonstrations were just the beginning of Khazan's community involvement. It was a small victoryand one that would build. On February 1, 1960, Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeillater dubbed the Greensboro Fourbegan a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in. They have three children, one of whom graduated from A & T. Do you find this information helpful? Khazan received his early education from Dudley High School, where his father taught. Biographies of the A&T Four Jibreel Khazan Jibreel Khazan (Ezell Blair, Jr.) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on October 18, 1941. Get the latest news, sports and weather delivered straight to your inbox. The students had received guidance from mentor activists and collaborated with students from Greensboro's all-women's Bennett College. Four Black Woolworths employeesGeneva Tisdale, Susie Morrison, Anetha Jones and Charles Bestwere the first to be served. [12], "Civil Rights Greensboro: Jibreel Khazan", University of North Carolina at Greensboro, "Jibreel Khazan (Formerly Ezell Blair Jr.)", "Oral History Interview with Jibreel Khazan by William Chafe:: Civil Rights Greensboro", "Ezell Blair, Stokely Carmichael, Lucy Thornton and Jean Wheeler | Who Speaks for the Negro? 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. [5] Khazan stated that he had seen a documentary on Mohandas Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. As he had been labeled a "troublemaker" for his role in the Greensboro Sit-Ins, life in Greensboro became difficult for Khazan. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. McCain's death left Ezell Blair (now Jibreel Khazan) and Joseph McNeil as the two surviving members of the Greensboro Four. He then went into computer sales and worked as a stockbroker and commercial banker. He was captivated as King addressed the audience in attendance. He was a student government leader. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. The Greensboro sit-in took place in Greensboro, North Carolina, and has echoes of Rosa Parks and other symbolic moments that eventually helped end segregation in the United States. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. His 1964 interview describes the Greensboro sit-ins in Chapter 5 of Who Speaks for the Negro? Recommended Citation. The Greensboro Fours efforts inspired a sit-in movement that eventually spread to 55 cities in 13 states. Blair and the other three students were refused service when they sat down at Woolworths lunch counter, but they refused to leave and stayed at the counter until the store closed. Denied service, the four young men refused to give up their seats. See MoreSee Less. Woolworth's whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro to protest segregation. They waited. It is reported that as a nine-year-old he boasted to friends that he would one day drink from the white peoples fountains and eat at their lunch counters. Blair was the most uncertain of the four who decided to stage the Woolworth protest, and recalls calling his parents to ask their advice. While a student at A & T he was elected to attend the meeting at Shaw University in Raleigh at which the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed. Please ignore rumors and hoaxes. He majored in business administration and accounting and became a counselor-coordinator for the CETA program in Greensboro. 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. CNN.com describes what the students went through when they staged the Greensboro sit-in. Together they have three children. In 1959, Khazan graduated from James B. Dudley High School, and entered the A&T College of North Carolina. A look at one of the defining social movements in U.S. history, told through the personal stories of men, women and children who lived through it. Birthday: October 18, 1941 How Old - Age: 81 Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. In 1991, Khazan received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from North Carolina A&T State University. A&T freshmen Ezell Blair Jr. (now known as Jibreel Khazan), Joseph McNeil and the late David Richmond and Franklin McCain ignited a movement at the segregated downtown F.W. They told him to do what he must and to carry himself with dignity and grace. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. Police arrested 41 students for trespassing at a Raleigh Woolworth. SNCC was pivotal in pushing the Rev. They also took inspiration from civil rights causes of years earlier, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (1941- ), referred to as Izell Blair inWho Speaks for the Negro?, is an American civil rights activist. "[5], In 1959, Khazan graduated from James B. Dudley High School, and entered the A&T College of North Carolina. Heavy television coverage of the Greensboro sit-ins sparked a sit-in movement that quickly spread to college towns throughout the South and into the North, as young Black and white people joined in various forms of peaceful protest against segregation in libraries, beaches, hotels and other establishments. 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 By the end of March 1960, the movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. As its members faced increased violence, however, SNCC became more militant, and by the late 1960s it was advocating the Black Power philosophy of Stokely Carmichael (SNCCs chairman from 1966-67) and his successor, H. Rap Brown. Khazan also recalls an American Civics teacher, Mrs. McCullough, who told her class Were preparing you for the day when you will have equal rights., He was also influenced by Martin Luther King Jr. 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. 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. About a dozen Bennett Belles were also arrested at area sit-ins. He had to move to Massachusetts because the publicity made it. Google says they were also influenced by the techniques of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Download it here. On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. 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. They mean that young people are going to be one of the major driving forces in terms of how the civil rights movement is going to unfold., Listen to HISTORY This Week Podcast: Sitting in For Civil Rights. His life was threatened, so he moved to a mountain community, according to Carolina Theatre. He served on university boards and received an honorary doctorate, according to the Civil Rights Digital Library. SNCC also pushed King to take a more forceful stance against the war in Vietnam in 1967 and popularized the slogan Black Power! in 1966.. But they did not move. The Greensboro Four, as they came to be known, acted to challenge the lunch counters refusal to serve African Americans. 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. Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. They refused to leave when denied service and stayed until the store closed. SNCC worked alongside the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to push passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and would later mount an organized resistance to the Vietnam War. He also has worked with the AFL/CIO Trade Council in Boston, the Opportunities Industrialization Center, and at the Rodman Job Corps Center. By the spring of 1960 the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in nine states in the South. They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques of Mahatma Gandhi. 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Blair then moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he became a member of the New England Islamic Center in 1968 and took on his present name of Jibreel Khazan. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. Death Fact Check Ezell is alive and kicking and is currently 81 years old. The February One Monument is an important landmark on A&T's campus that sets it apart from other institutions. Read more, Greensboro Voices: Voicing Observations in Civil Rights and Equality struggles, Greensboro Public Library (Greensboro, N.C.), Oral history interview with Ezell and Corene Blair, Records that have the exact phrase Montgomery Bus Boycott, Records with the word integration that also contain the words Albany and/or Augusta, Records with the name King but not the name Martin, Records containing the phrase Freedom Rides and the name Carter, Records containing the words Selma and Lewis or Selma and Williams, Use quotation marks to search as a phrase, Use "+" before a term to make it required (Otherwise results matching only some of your terms may be included), Use "-" before a word or phrase to exclude, Use "OR", "AND", and "NOT" (must be capitalized) to create complex boolean logic, You can use parentheses in your complex expressions, Truncation and wildcards are not supported. He continued his education at Massachusetts University and later at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice.[7]. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! From left to right: Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair, Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeill, and David Richmond. One of the original Greensboro Four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. In 1963, Khazan graduated from A&T College with a Bachelor's degree in sociology and Social Studies. The movement was about simple dignity, respect, access, equal opportunity, and most importantly the legal and constitutional concerns., READ MORE:8 Steps That Paved the Way to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Khazans courageous actions helped to bring attention to the injustices of segregation and inspired others to join the fight for civil rights. Ezell Blair, Jr. (later Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond organized the sit-in. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. Eventually, they prevailed, and Woolworths stopped segregating its dining area on July 25th, 1960, Google reports. In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. Khazan received his early education from Dudley High School, where his father taught. In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. [9] In 2010, Khazan was the recipient of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. by mcgorry. After graduating from A&T in 1963, Blair encountered difficulties finding a job in his native Greensboro. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. Hudgens had participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation against racial segregation on interstate buses. "[5] Khazan also recalls an American Civics teacher, Mrs. McCullough, who told her class Were preparing you for the day when you will have equal rights.[1], He was also influenced by Martin Luther King Jr. By that time, Johns had already alerted the local media, who had arrived in full force to cover the events on television. ", North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "FebruaryOne: The Story of the Greensboro Four", "50 years later, Greensboro Four get Smithsonian award for civil rights actions", "New Bedford Must Lift Up Celebration of Dr. Jibreel Khazan With a Statue", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ezell_Blair_Jr.&oldid=1143803857, This page was last edited on 10 March 2023, at 00:30. 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. 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. Though many of the protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, their actions made an immediate and lasting impact, forcing Woolworths and other establishments to change their segregationist policies. He married the former Lorraine France George of New Bedford. Joseph Alfred McNeil (born March 25, 1942) is a retired major general in the United States Air Force who is best known for being 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 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. WATCH: The Civil Rights Movement on HISTORY Vault. He attended law school at Howard University for almost a year before a variety of maladies forced him out. Click here to sign up for email and text alerts. These materials may be graphic or reflect biases. Ezell Blair Jr. was the son of a teacher who received his B.S. Digital archive created and designed by the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. July 1, 2020. He graduated from James B. Dudley High School in 1959 and began his freshman year at A&T College having received an A&T College Alumni Association Scholarship. Woolworth. Activist Ella Baker, then director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, organized the youth-centered groups first meeting. 0 54. The next day, they returned to the store with more students and continued their sit-in protest. In 1991, Khazan received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from North Carolina A&T State University. Description. 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. 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. The Greensboro Sit-In was a critical turning point in Black history and American history, bringing the fight for civil rights to the national stage. 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. The students came to be called the Greensboro Four. 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. SNCC activists such as John Lewis took part in the 1961 Freedom Rides, the 1963 March on Washington, and the 1963 Freedom Summer effort. He had to move to Massachusetts because the publicity made it difficult to get a job in Greensboro. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. The sit-ins establish a crucial kind of leadership and organizing of young people, says Jeanne Theoharis, a Brooklyn College political science professor. There were also sit-ins in Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri, says John L. Swaine, CEO of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. It was said that when he experienced unjust treatment based on color, he "stood up." 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 four students were inspired by the nonviolent teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and they believed that peaceful direct action was the best way to bring about change. This monument provides a larger-than-life portrayal of Jibreel Khazan (then known as Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, four NC A&T students who became known as the "Greensboro Four" for their sit-in at Woolworth's department store in 1960. Khazan is married to the former Lorraine France George of New Bedford. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC.
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