ezell blair jr facts

2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. By February 5, some 300 students had joined the protest at Woolworths, paralyzing the lunch counter and other local businesses. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 1942 sit-in at the Jack Spratt Coffee House, Follow the Freedom Riders' Journey Against Segregation, Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, 1,400 students showed up to the Greensboro Woolworth, Police arrested 41 students for trespassing, Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was finally integrated, integrating the cafeteria at Richs Department Store, 8 Steps That Paved the Way to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, https://www.history.com/news/greensboro-four-sit-in-civil-rights, How the Greensboro Four Sit-In Sparked a Movement. He was a student government leader. He worked as a janitor and battled many demons, sad that he couldnt improve the world more than he had. Ezell Blair Jr. was the son of a teacher who received his B.S. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. The Greensboro sit-ins are considered one of the biggest events of the Civil Rights Movement and set the standard for modern nonviolent protest and resistance. On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. Activist Ella Baker, then director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, organized the youth-centered groups first meeting. The protests, and the subsequent events were major milestone in the Civil Rights Movement. They also worked with the NAACP to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed. GREENSBORO Civil rights leader Franklin McCain has died. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. Death Fact Check Ezell is alive and kicking and is currently 81 years old. Ezell Blair Jr. was the son of a teacher who received his B.S. Led by four North Carolina A&T Students - Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan (then Ezell Blair, Jr.) and David Richmond, the nonviolent protests lasted over five months. [10] On October 12, 2021, Khazan was honored with the renaming of a city park in the west end of New Bedford, MA. By Birth Year | By Birth Month | By Death Year | By Death Month | Random, Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Copyright. The Greensboro sit-in took place in Greensboro, North Carolina, and has echoes of Rosa Parks and other symbolic moments that eventually helped end segregation in the United States. He served on university boards and received an honorary doctorate, according to the Civil Rights Digital Library. Some content (or its descriptions) found on this site may be harmful and difficult to view. Khazan was born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr. on October 18, 1941, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jibreel Khazan (born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr.; October 18, 1941) is a civil rights activist who is best known as a member of the Greensboro Four, a group of African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina challenging the store's policy of denying service to non-white customers. Blair was president of the junior class, the student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress of Racial Equality. Khazans courageous actions helped to bring attention to the injustices of segregation and inspired others to join the fight for civil rights. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. She is the author of Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision and other books. 2023, Charter Communications, all rights reserved. On February 1, 1960, the four students sat down at the lunch counter at the Woolworths in downtown Greensboro, where the official policy was to refuse service to anyone but whites. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that spread throughout the South. Ezell Blair, Sr. and his wife, Corene, were the parents of Jibreel Khazan, (Ezell A. Blair Jr.) one of the four North Carolina A&T State University students who participated in the first sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro on February 1, 1960. In three days, their numbers had swelled to 300. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. was born on October 18, 1941 and is 81 years old now. The Greensboro Four, as they came to be known, acted to challenge the lunch counters refusal to serve African Americans. According to History.com, they sat down and refused to leave, after having been denied service because of their race. On February 1, 1960, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), and Joe McNeil, four African American students from North Carolina A&T State University, staged a sit-in in Greensboro at Woolworth, a popular retail store that was known for refusing to serve African Americans at its lunch counter. Today, he is remembered as a hero of the Civil Rights Movement and a symbol of the power of nonviolent resistance to bring about change. McCain was one of four N.C. A&T students who led sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro in 1960. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "Photo of Jibreel Khazan Receiving Award (Ezell Blair, Jr.)" (1961). Khazan also recalls an American Civics teacher, Mrs. McCullough, who told her class Were preparing you for the day when you will have equal rights., He was also influenced by Martin Luther King Jr. When four Black students refused to move from a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960, nation-wide student activism gained momentum. But the acts of intimidation didnt stop the movement from building. The students came to be called the Greensboro Four. [3][8] Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. Police arrested 41 students for trespassing at a Raleigh Woolworth. He was elected president of the junior class, and would later become president of the school's student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress for Racial Equality. [7] In 2002, North Carolina A&T commissioned a statue to be sculpted honoring Khazan, along with the three other members of the A&T four: Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond. Greensboro sit-in, act of nonviolent protest against a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, that began on February 1, 1960. His life was threatened, so he moved to a mountain community, according to Carolina Theatre. Counters in other cities did the same in subsequent months. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. Woolworth. The Greensboro Four were four young Black men who staged the first sit-in at Greensboro: Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. by mcgorry. Recommended Citation. Blair was president of the junior class, the student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress of Racial Equality. [3] His father was a member of the NAACP and very vocal on the subject of racial injustices and "things naturally rubbed off on me", described Khazan in a 1974 interview. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The Greensboro Four were four young Black men who staged the first sit-in at Greensboro: Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil. Google says they were also influenced by the techniques of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Part of the original counter is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. Blair, Richmond, McCain and McNeil planned their protest carefully, and enlisted the help of a local white businessman, Ralph Johns, to put their plan into action. Ezell A. Blair Jr. was one of the four African American college students who initiated the sit-in protest at Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960. As the week unfolded, dozens of young people, including students from the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, flocked to lunch counters and asked to be served. David Richmond died young. Four years later, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would mandate all businesses to desegregate. By the spring of 1960 the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in nine states in the South. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. Khazan received his early education from Dudley High School, where his father taught. Ezell A. Blair Jr. was one of the four African American college students who initiated the sit-in protest at Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960. July 1, 2020. The white waiter refused and suggested they order a take-out meal from the "stand-up" counter. Please ignore rumors and hoaxes. WATCH: The Civil Rights Movement on HISTORY Vault. We even had people who saw the sit-ins that were taking place at the lunch counter drive from other states to come down here, Swaine says. SNCC worked alongside the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to push passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and would later mount an organized resistance to the Vietnam War. They mean that young people are going to be one of the major driving forces in terms of how the civil rights movement is going to unfold., Listen to HISTORY This Week Podcast: Sitting in For Civil Rights. Woolworth's whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro to protest segregation. All Rights Reserved. McNeil worked in the university library with a fellow activist, Eula Hudgens, who encouraged him to protest. Heavy television coverage of the Greensboro sit-ins sparked a sit-in movement that quickly spread to college towns throughout the South and into the North, as young Black and white people joined in various forms of peaceful protest against segregation in libraries, beaches, hotels and other establishments. They were asked to leave. On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. Hudgens had participated in the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation against racial segregation on interstate buses. They were all students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. It was a small victoryand one that would build. Not only were lunch counters across the country integrated one by one, a student movement was galvanized. Frye Gaillard, The Greensboro Four: Civil Rights Pioneers (Charlotte, N.C.: Main Street Rag Publishing Co., 2001); William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980). Franklin McCain graduated from A&T with a degree in chemistry and biology. He then went into computer sales and worked as a stockbroker and commercial banker. (No photographers were allowed into Woolworth's during this first protest; this is the only photo of all four original protesters together.). But they did not move. He was a Major General in the Air Force Reserves and started diversity initiatives that changed the Air Force forever. Khazan stated that he had seen a documentary on Mohandas Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. In addition to desegregating dining establishments, the sit-ins led to the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh. All four were students from North. They also took inspiration from civil rights causes of years earlier, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott. They had a strong Black community in Greensboro that was steeped in the struggle and willing to support young people by way of moral and financial support, says Prairie View A&M University History Professor Will Guzmn. He continued his education at Massachusetts University and later at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice.[7]. Touring history with Avett Brothers' bassist Bob Crawford. He went on to work for Celanese Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina for 35 years, and he stayed active in the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. [1][2], Khazan was born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr. on October 18, 1941, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The students had received guidance from mentor activists and collaborated with students from Greensboro's all-women's Bennett College. We provide access to these materials to preserve the historical record, but we do not endorse the attitudes, prejudices, or behaviors found within them. Multiple lunch counter sit-ins had taken place in the Midwest, East Coast and South in the 1940s and 1950s, but these demonstrations didnt garner national attention. The four North Carolina A & T students are (L-R): David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil. In 1965, he moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher and counselor for the developmentally challenged. In 1991, Khazan received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from North Carolina A&T State University. Greensboro Sit-In: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), first sit-ins during the civil rights movement, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/the-greensboro-sit-in. Read more, Greensboro Voices: Voicing Observations in Civil Rights and Equality struggles, Greensboro Public Library (Greensboro, N.C.), Oral history interview with Ezell and Corene Blair, Records that have the exact phrase Montgomery Bus Boycott, Records with the word integration that also contain the words Albany and/or Augusta, Records with the name King but not the name Martin, Records containing the phrase Freedom Rides and the name Carter, Records containing the words Selma and Lewis or Selma and Williams, Use quotation marks to search as a phrase, Use "+" before a term to make it required (Otherwise results matching only some of your terms may be included), Use "-" before a word or phrase to exclude, Use "OR", "AND", and "NOT" (must be capitalized) to create complex boolean logic, You can use parentheses in your complex expressions, Truncation and wildcards are not supported. African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African American Scientists and Technicians of the Manhattan Project, Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Education - Historically Black Colleges (HBCU), Foundation, Organization, and Corporate Supporters. Ezell Blair Jr.. Self: February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four. Police arrived on the scene but were unable to take action due to the lack of provocation. It's honored with a Google Doodle. [5] His 1964 interview describes the Greensboro sit-ins in Chapter 5 of Who Speaks for the Negro? 0 54. "[5] Khazan also recalls an American Civics teacher, Mrs. McCullough, who told her class Were preparing you for the day when you will have equal rights.[1], He was also influenced by Martin Luther King Jr. Spectrum News Text and Email Alerts Sign-up, California Consumer Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information, California Consumer Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. As he had been labeled a "troublemaker" for his role in the Greensboro Sit-Ins, life in Greensboro became difficult for Khazan. This page was last modified on 24 April 2023, at 04:46. This is the real beginnings of TV media; people can see the sit-in and imagine how they would do it themselves, said Theoharis, author of The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. Ezell Blair begins this interview by describing his participation in the Greensboro student sit-in and describes the students Ezell Blair, Stokely Carmichael, Lucy Thornton and Jean Wheeler. At the end of July, when many local college students were on summer vacation, the Greensboro Woolworths quietly integrated its lunch counter. Over the next few years, SNCC served as one of the leading forces in the civil rights movement, organizing Freedom Rides through the South in 1961 and the historic March on Washington in 1963, at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his seminal I Have a Dream speech. The reaction was ugly in the short-term, but in the long-term the protests spread and made real change. One of the original Greensboro Four who took part in the Woolworth sit-ins. They waited some more. The sit-ins establish a crucial kind of leadership and organizing of young people, says Jeanne Theoharis, a Brooklyn College political science professor. and received a B.S. About a dozen Bennett Belles were also arrested at area sit-ins. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. While a student at A & T he was elected to attend the meeting at Shaw University in Raleigh at which the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed.
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