65th Anniversary of A&T Four Sit In Celebrates the Power of Perseverance

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Jan. 31, 2025) – After North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University freshmen Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain and David Richmond seated themselves at Woolworth’s whites-only lunch counter in downtown Greensboro on Feb. 1, 1960, many others joined in and supported their peaceful protest that reinvigorated the Civil Rights Movement.

N.C. A&T paid tribute to those countless unsung heroes whose contributions were instrumental in the success and legacy of the A&T Four’s historic act of resistance during its annual community celebration, “Perseverance: The Power of an Ageless Evolution,” at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center. Among those recognized by the 800 attendees were former students, faculty and staff from A&T, Bennett College, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and Dudley High School, along with numerous activists, community leaders and residents from Greensboro and across North Carolina.

Former U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson, North Carolina, addressed a capacity crowd at the breakfast celebration honoring Blair (now Jibreel Khazan), the late McCain Sr., the late Richmond and retired Maj. Gen. McNeil, who was in attendance. A longtime civil rights advocate, Butterfield retired from Congress in 2022.

Butterfield began by talking about the leadership consistently demonstrated by historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The Aggies who led the sit-in movement with the Belles of neighboring Bennett College, he said, are a prominent example of that leadership.

“Let me tell you, I cannot imagine where we would be as a country, as a community, had it not been for HBCUs,” said Butterfield, who earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from North Carolina Central University, an HBCU.

Butterfield detailed the pivotal events that led up to and followed the sit-in – from the actions of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and U.S. Rep. John Lewis to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, along with all the people who influenced and stood, sat and marched to secure the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“So, my challenge to you, A&T and my friends in Greensboro, Guilford County … is that we must continue the struggle. It’s a struggle for equity, it’s a struggle for inclusion – not just in the workplace, but in higher education and public education because these institutions are under assault,” he said. “Let’s continue the struggle.”

“We really can’t understand who we are and what we’re about unless we really understand our history. And we can’t understand our history and the power of our history … unless we understand this amazing place that we call North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University because so much history started here,” said Chancellor James R. Martin II, presiding over his first sit-in celebration at A&T.

Martin said honoring the A&T Four means acknowledging the power of young people. “All the people that were involved – many of you here – these were people in their teens and 20s that led this, that changed a movement,” he said. “We’re not people that wait. We’re people that move forward. Just like what happened Feb. 1, 1960, we move forward.”

“It was no coincidence that these young people were students. They were forward-focused. They were learners,” he said. “If we want to have optimism in this world, if we want to feel better about the direction of this country, spend some time with these students from North Carolina A&T and you’ll know we’re going to be OK.”  

Martin presented the Human Rights Medal, the university’s highest honor for contributions to civil rights, civil liberties and/or human rights, to N.C. Sen. Gladys A. Robinson, an eight-term state legislator and former longtime community health executive. Robinson holds an undergraduate degree from Bennett College and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from A&T.

She is a lifelong advocate for HBCUs, for higher education and for North Carolina’s African American community. Among her many accomplishments is her successful work for the state’s 2023 expansion of Medicaid, which has secured health care coverage for more than 600,000 North Carolinians.

“I have dedicated my life’s work to advocating for those without a voice, breaking down barriers and opening doors of opportunity to underserved and marginalized communities,” said Robinson. “I am able to do that thanks to the courage and vision of the A&T Four and many other human rights leaders who came before me. I am proud to uphold their legacy of service and pay it forward to future generations.”

The university also recognized its first cohort of February One Scholars – students in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Education and John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences – who will graduate May 10. The program, launched in 2021, awards 15 new full, four-year scholarships each year to some of the most academically high achieving students in the nation.

Inspirational performances by the award-winning N.C. A&T Fellowship Gospel Choir bookended the celebration, which concluded with the laying of memorial wreaths for McCain, who died in January 2014, and Richmond, who died in December 1990, at the February One Monument in front of the historic Dudley Memorial Building.

More than 500 students participated in a social justice discussion, offered in partnership with Guilford County Schools, in Harrison Auditorium following the event.