ezell blair jr facts

His breaking point was when he was not served a hot dog at the Greensboro bus terminal, according to Carolina Theatre. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. Menu. King's words had made a huge impact with Khazan, so much so that he later remarked that "he could feel his heart palpitating" and that the words of King "brought tears to his eyes.". SNCC was pivotal in pushing the Rev. 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. 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. The Greensboro sit-in wasnt a random act of rebellion, but the result of months of planning. The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that started in 1960, when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave after being denied service. 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. Greensboro Sit-In: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Image: Original caption: 2/1/1960 - Greensboro, NC: The participants in the first lunch counter sit-in are shown on the street after leaving the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's by a side exit. They also worked with the NAACP to get the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed. Biographies of the A&T Four Jibreel Khazan Jibreel Khazan (Ezell Blair, Jr.) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on October 18, 1941. Blair, along with Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond, decided to stage the sit-in protest as a way of challenging the racial segregation that was prevalent in their community. All Rights Reserved. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. 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. Then, the next day, they returned to do it all over again, according to CNN. [5] Khazan stated that he had seen a documentary on Mohandas Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. Four years later, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would mandate all businesses to desegregate. Khazan stated that he had seen a documentary on Mohandas Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. 20072023 Blackpast.org. Lunch counter sit-ins then moved beyond Greensboro to North Carolina cities such as Charlotte, Durham and Winston-Salem. in sociology in 1963. They waited. Khazan received his early education from Dudley High School, where his father taught. See MoreSee Less, Today In HistoryEdward Kennedy Duke Ellington, the legendary composer and bandleader, was born in Washington, DC, on April 29, 1899. Franklin McCain graduated from A&T with a degree in chemistry and biology. But they did not move. 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. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, NBC News, The Atlantic, Business Insider and other outlets. The store manager then approached the men, asking them to leave. 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. See MoreSee Less, Neighborhood children greet Ms. Gibson upon her return to Harlem after winning Wimbledon in 1957 On February 1, 1960, Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeillater dubbed the Greensboro Fourbegan a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in. 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. He married the former Lorraine France George of New Bedford. Khazan is married to the former Lorraine France George of New Bedford. Jan 27, 2020. At the end of July, when many local college students were on summer vacation, the Greensboro Woolworths quietly integrated its lunch counter. In 1965, he moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher and counselor for the developmentally challenged. Updated: January 25, 2022 | Original: February 4, 2010. By the end of March 1960, the movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities 2023 |. Blair was president of the junior class, the student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress of Racial Equality. in sociology in 1963. 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. The next day, they returned to the store with more students and continued their sit-in protest. [4] It was said that when he experienced unjust treatment based on color, he "stood up. A look at one of the defining social movements in U.S. history, told through the personal stories of men, women and children who lived through it. Woolworth. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. 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. [3][8] Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. Notes about review of interview transcripts with Carmichael, Ezell Blair, Lucy Thornton, and Jean Wheeler. 2023, Charter Communications, all rights reserved. In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. 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. He continued his education at Massachusetts University and later at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice.[7]. Its use of nonviolence inspired the Freedom Riders and others to take up the cause of integration in the South, furthering the cause of equal rights in the United States. 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. They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques practiced by Mohandas Gandhi, as well as the Freedom Rides organized by the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) in 1947, in which interracial activists rode across the South in buses to test a recent Supreme Court decision banning segregation in interstate bus travel. They have three children, one of whom graduated from A & T. Do you find this information helpful? At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering. Some of the first sit-ins during the civil rights movementwere organized by history teacher Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council in Oklahoma City in1958. The Greensboro Four, as they became known, had also been spurred to action by the brutal murder in 1955 of a young Black boy, Emmett Till, who had allegedly whistled at a white woman in a Mississippi store. From left to right: Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair, Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeill, and David Richmond. He continued his education at Massachusetts University and later at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied voice. 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. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. After the Greensboro sit-ins, Blair became a prominent civil rights activist and organizer. At that speech, King called for an escalation of nonviolent protests to end segregated accommodation. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Birthday: October 18, 1941 How Old - Age: 81 Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. In 1991, Khazan received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from North Carolina A&T State University. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. was born on October 18, 1941 and is 81 years old now. The year was 1960, and segregation raged throughout the country, but the students decided they had had enough. To capitalize on the momentum of the sit-in movement, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April 1960. Blair and the other three students were refused service when they sat down at Woolworths lunch counter, but they refused to leave and stayed at the counter until the store closed. They were asked to leave. 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. For starters, according to History.com, they were upset about the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, who was slain after being accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Description. 0. They also did not give up their seats when a police officer arrived and menacingly slapped his nightstick against his hand directly behind them. In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. According to Google, hundreds of other protesters soon joined them, but the protesters faced a counter movement that included racial slurs being hurled in their direction and even were spit on and had food thrown on them. SNCC also pushed King to take a more forceful stance against the war in Vietnam in 1967 and popularized the slogan Black Power! in 1966.. [1][2], Khazan was born Ezell Alexander Blair Jr. on October 18, 1941, in Greensboro, North Carolina. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Today Khazan is an oral historian, oracle, Mass-Star Story teller and lecturer. On February 1, 1960, four college students - Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil - sat read more. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. But the students did not budge. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. The sit-in movement soon spread to college towns throughout the South. 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. David Richmond died young. They were taking place in a lot of places before Greensboro., READ MORE: Follow the Freedom Riders' Journey Against Segregation. His 1964 interview describes the Greensboro sit-ins in Chapter 5 of Who Speaks for the Negro? After nearly a week of protests, approximately 1,400 students showed up to the Greensboro Woolworth to demonstrate. Each of the participants in the sit-in had different catalysts, but it is clear that the four men had a close friendship that mutually reinforced their desire to act. 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. Each of the participants in the sit-in had different catalysts, but it is clear that the four men had a close friendship that mutually reinforced their desire to act. After graduation, He briefly studied law at Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. It took months, but on July 25, 1960, the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter was finally integrated. The protests played a definitive role in the Civil Rights movement because they sparked additional protests, eventually making the movement too large to ignore, Google says. 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. 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. A small donation would help us keep this available to all. All Rights Reserved. Digital archive created and designed by the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. Sit-in demonstrations by Black college students grew at the Woolworth's in Greensboro and other local stores, February 6, 1960. All Rights Reserved. Ezell Blair Jr. was the son of a teacher who received his B.S. All four were students from North. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he changed his name to Jibreel Khazan. The protests and the subsequent events were major milestones in the Civil Rights Movement. No one would serve them. In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. The Greensboro Sit-In was a critical turning point in Black history and American history, bringing the fight for civil rights to the national stage. By simply remaining in their seats peacefully and quietly, they flummoxed the staff and left them unsure on how to enforce their whites-only rule. Police arrived on the scene but were unable to take action due to the lack of provocation. 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. We provide access to these materials to preserve the historical record, but we do not endorse the attitudes, prejudices, or behaviors found within them. He majored in business administration and accounting and became a counselor-coordinator for the CETA program in Greensboro. 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. They told him to do what he must and to carry himself with dignity and grace. Powered by. The Greensboro sit-in. McCain was one of four N.C. A&T students who led sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro in 1960. He had to move to Massachusetts because the publicity made it difficult to get a job in Greensboro. 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. The Greensboro sit-in was a major moment in the American civil rights movement when young African-American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworths lunch counter in North Carolina. His name is now Jibreel Khazan. He was 49 years old when he died in 1990 and received a posthumous honorary doctorate degree from At&T State University. (No photographers were allowed into Woolworth's during this first protest; this is the only photo of all four original protesters together.). On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. Original materials provided by the University of Kentucky and Yale University libraries and digitized with the permission of the Warren estate. Four Black Woolworths employeesGeneva Tisdale, Susie Morrison, Anetha Jones and Charles Bestwere the first to be served. by mcgorry. The students had received guidance from mentor activists and collaborated with students from Greensboro's all-women's Bennett College. It is reported that as a nine-year-old he boasted to friends that he would one day drink from the white peoples fountains and eat at their lunch counters. Blair was the most uncertain of the four who decided to stage the Woolworth protest, and recalls calling his parents to ask their advice. 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. Word quickly spread about the Greensboro sit-in, and both North Carolina A&T and Bennett College students took part in the sit-in the next day. "[5], In 1959, Khazan graduated from James B. Dudley High School, and entered the A&T College of North Carolina. The white waiter refused and suggested they order a take-out meal from the "stand-up" counter. The Greensboro sit-in is the subject of a Google Doodle on February 1, 2020 for the 60th anniversary of the action. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. They refused to leave when denied service and stayed until the store closed. He had been a high school track star and was born in Greensboro. The students came to be called the Greensboro Four. In three days, their numbers had swelled to 300. 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. On Feb. 1, 1960 four Black freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair, Jr., and David Richmond, took seats at the segregated lunch counter of F. W. Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C. The reaction was ugly in the short-term, but in the long-term the protests spread and made real change. In 1963, Khazan graduated from A&T College with a Bachelor's degree in sociology and Social Studies. Its success led to a wider sit-in movement, organized primarily by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that spread throughout the South. McCain's death left Ezell Blair (now Jibreel Khazan) and Joseph McNeil as the two surviving members of the Greensboro Four. In addition to desegregating dining establishments, the sit-ins led to the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh. In 1958, Khazan heard King speak at the local Bennett College. Get the latest news, sports and weather delivered straight to your inbox. They were students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. David Richmond, the fourth member and McCain's freshman college roommate, died in 1990. It's honored with a Google Doodle. They were influenced by the nonviolent protest techniques of Mahatma Gandhi. It was during his freshman year that Khazan and his roommate, Joseph McNeil; along with two other associates, Franklin McCain and David Richmond, devised a plan to protest against the policies of the segregated lunch counter at the downtown Greensboro F. W. Woolworth's store. 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. A Greensboro native, he graduated from Dudley High School and received a . 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 By the spring of 1960 the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in nine states in the South. He attended law school at Howard University for almost a year before a variety of maladies forced him out. On February 1, 1960, Blair, along with McNeil, Franklin and Richmond, took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy. This page was last modified on 24 April 2023, at 04:46. The February One Monument is an important landmark on A&T's campus that sets it apart from other institutions. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. ", North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, "FebruaryOne: The Story of the Greensboro Four", "50 years later, Greensboro Four get Smithsonian award for civil rights actions", "New Bedford Must Lift Up Celebration of Dr. Jibreel Khazan With a Statue", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ezell_Blair_Jr.&oldid=1143803857, This page was last edited on 10 March 2023, at 00:30. [9] In 2010, Khazan was the recipient of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. He was a Major General in the Air Force Reserves and started diversity initiatives that changed the Air Force forever. As of 2018 Ezell Blair is 76 years years old. Ezell A. Blair, Jr. Death Fact Check Ezell is alive and kicking and is currently 81 years old. At the time of the protest, he was a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where he was studying engineering.

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