GREENSBORO, N.C. — North Carolina A&T is holding events Wednesday to honor 63 years since a historic movement changed the trajectory for not just Greensboro, but the whole nation.
On February 1, 1960, four North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University students initiated a peaceful, civil rights sit-in protest.
Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.), Joseph McNeil, the late Franklin McCain, and the late David Richmond sat at a whites-only lunch counter at the F.W. Woolworth Department Store in downtown Greensboro.
That action ignited a movement and N.C. A&T has honored those actions for 63 years.
The university is holding it's annual Sit-in Anniversary Breakfast and Wreath Laying.
The event is titled “Embracing Our Past, Engaging Our Present, Imagining Our Future."
Hundreds are gathering for the breakfast at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center.
The university is remembering and honoring the actions of the A&T Four and includes a panel discussion with past A&T Student Government Association presidents, spanning several decades of student service to the university.
The university will also reveal its 2023 Human Rights Medal awardee during the ceremony to recognize individuals who have worked to correct social injustice and have significantly contributed to the betterment of the world.
After breakfast, there is a memorial wreath-laying ceremony at 10 am.
It will be held at the February One monument, 202 University Circle.
The events Wednesday end with a social justice panel discussion at 10:30 a.m. in Harrison Auditorium for students.
According to the university, after the actions of The A&T Four, countless groups used the same nonviolent tactics as ways to voice their disapproval and condemnation of segregation.
Woolworths later desegregated their stores and lunch counters in July of 1960, with others following suit even before the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
