Human Rights Medal Awarded For Civil Rights Sit-Ins

By David Pitts
Washington File Staff Writer

(Key Event occurred 41 years ago in North Carolina)

Washington -- Lewis Brandon III became the first recipient of North Carolina A&T State University's Human Rights Medal February 1, 41 years after the landmark civil rights sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina that inspired its creation.

The former A&T student received the medal at a breakfast ceremony at the university. It is designed to honor the Greensboro Four, the four African American students who staged a sit-in to protest racial segregation at the lunch counter of F.W. Woolworth's in downtown Greensboro on February 1, 1960. The university says it will give the international human rights award at this time each year to someone who has worked effectively for social justice through peaceful means.

Brandon was a member of the Student Executive Committee for Justice, helping to organize a wide array of protest strategies against the racial segregation then entrenched in Greensboro and the South. He later became active in the Greensboro Association of Poor People and the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

The young student was committed to a variety of strategies for breaking down segregation in Greensboro, but none more significant than the student sit-ins that would transform the city and spread throughout the region. The sit-ins played an important role in bringing down the total infrastructure of segregation, not just in restaurants and eating establishments.

The four college freshmen who staged the sit-in -- all 18 years old at the time. Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair (now Jibreel Khazan) and the late David Richmond -- entered the F.W. Woolworth store on S. Elm Street, walked politely to the then segregated lunch counter in downtown Greensboro and asked to be served. When they were refused, they sat at the lunch counter all day until closing time. They returned the next day; this time accompanied by 25 more students from Greensboro area colleges.

In the days that followed, students across the state also staged sit-ins, and by the third week, the demonstrations had spread throughout the South. But more than five months of additional sit-ins were needed in Greensboro before Woolworth's finally relented and ended segregation in its store in July. "Creating this award made sense given the history behind the Greensboro Four and their worldwide impact," said A&T Chancellor James Renick. "We think it's important to recognize people who have made a contribution to their communities and their country in the area of human rights," he added.

Forty years is a long time and much has changed in the South and across the nation. But in earlier statements, the three surviving students -- all now 58 -- seem just as eager as they were during their youth to continue the struggle until all forms of racism are eradicated.

It's important to continue the fight against racism, says McCain. "I am not suggesting you go out there and die, but the worst thing in the world you can do is do nothing." He adds: "You ought not ever seek permission to start a revolution." From "my perspective, it was a down payment on manhood," says McNeil. "The secret of life is to know when to take on something difficult and to take something on that might have enormous risks and implications." Khazan recalls that at the time he was reluctant to take a stand at Woolworth's. McNeil urged him on, he remembers, saying, 'Brother Blair, it's time to go.'

Although North Carolina was far from being the most segregated state in the South before the civil rights victories, the situation in Greensboro was particularly egregious. Civil rights veterans recall that complete segregation -- even including separate sidewalks for whites and blacks -- were mandated by law and by custom. Spokespersons at the event stressed that it is important for today's students to recall the sacrifices that were made that transformed a city and a nation -- not so long ago.