Students at North Carolina A&T State University paused to honor Joseph McNeil, a member of the Greensboro Four, ahead of his memorial service on Thursday.
McNeil, who played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement, died on September 4 at the age of 83.
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McNeil was one of four A&T students who sparked the Civil Rights Movement with their historic sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro on February 1, 1960.
Their protest inspired similar actions across North Carolina and the nation, contributing to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“The Greensboro Four, McNeil, all four of them, give us our power and sense of identity at A&T,” junior Zariya Hargett told the Charlotte Observer.
“If it wasn’t for him and the sacrifice he and his friends made many years ago, we wouldn’t be here,” added junior Bryson Hughes.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein ordered flags at state buildings to be lowered to half-staff on Saturday in McNeil’s honor.
“Today, we come to celebrate a life that was well lived,” said Vicki McCain, pastor of Presbyterian Church of the Cross, during the memorial service.
McNeil’s sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter was a response to being denied service, a moment he described as “the final blow of humiliation.”
Bishop William Barber II highlighted McNeil’s enduring impact, stating that “challenging history requires heroic acts by ordinary people.”
After graduating from North Carolina A&T in 1963, McNeil had a distinguished career in the Air Force, rising to command the 22nd Air Force and earning the Distinguished Service Medal.
He later worked at IBM, Bankers Trust, E.F. Hutton, and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Freshman Erin Pridgen expressed how McNeil’s legacy motivates students at A&T to make their voices heard.
“It serves as a motivation to all the students who go here,” she said.
The site of the original sit-in is now the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, preserving the history of the movement.
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