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Sixty-five years after the historic A&T Four, freshmen from North Carolin Agricultural & Technical College (now University) ignited a movement; their legacy continues to inspire college students and the Greensboro community alike, who filled the Alumni-Foundation Event Center on January 31 for the 65th Anniversary Sit-in Breakfast.
“We will continue to honor the A&T Four by persevering through adversity to the point of igniting new movements. As a student, I can only imagine the raging fire that burned within them to see change. But I can also imagine the internal struggles that they endured,” said Kylie Rice, Student Government Association president and senior political science student at N.C. A&T.
The yearly breakfast commemoration celebrates the A&T Four: retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph McNeil, Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.), the late Franklin McCain Sr., and the late David Richmond Sr., whose historic act of a “sit-in” at the F.W. Woolworth lunch counter in Downtown Greensboro ultimately changed public accommodations laws across the United States.
Under the theme of “Perseverance: The Power of an Ageless Evolution,” the day of events kicked off with a 7 a.m. breakfast at the university, immediately followed by remarks from guest speaker retired U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield.
Butterfield is a Wilson, N.C. native, a longtime civil rights advocate, former N.C. Supreme Court Justice and a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was first elected to Congress in 2004 and retired in 2022.
In his breakfast address, Butterfield talked about the level of leadership and commitment that is 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.
“I cannot imagine where we would be as a country, as a community, had it not been for HBCUs,” said Butterfield, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology and a law degree from North Carolina Central University (Durham, N.C.), an HBCU.
Butterfield recounted nearly 15 years of pivotal history that led up to the sit-ins and the years that followed – 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.”
Additionally, the university bestowed the N.C. A&T Human Rights Medal, the university’s highest honor for contributions to civil rights, civil liberties and/or human rights, to N.C. Senator Gladys Robinson (D-27).
Robinson is currently serving her eighth term as a state senator and is a former longtime community health executive. Earning an undergraduate degree from Bennett College along with M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from A&T, Robinson has been 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 healthcare 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.”
A&T Chancellor James R. Martin II, presiding over his first sit-in celebration at A&T, presented Robinson with the medal, but not before acknowledging the power of young people in the sit-ins.
“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,” said Martin.
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 the 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.
Breakfast attendees also enjoyed a selection of songs from The N.C. A&T Fellowship Gospel Choir, including, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” at the breakfast.
Following the breakfast and program, participants walked to the February One monument on campus to lay a wreath in memory of Franklin McCain Sr. and David Richmond Sr. The morning concluded with more than 500 students attending a social justice discussion offered in partnership with Guilford County Schools, from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. in the university’s Harrison Auditorium.
