Commemorating The 50th Anniversary Of The Greensboro, North Carolina, Sit-in And Celebrating The Opening Of The International Civil Rights Center And Museum

Floor Speech

Commemorating The 50th Anniversary Of The Greensboro, North Carolina, Sit-in And Celebrating The Opening Of The International Civil Rights Center And Museum

* Mr. WATT. Madam Speaker, on February 1, 1960 four freshman students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Ezell Blair (Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, sat down and requested service at the F.W. Woolworth's segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the following days more students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Bennett College for Women, Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and Dudley High School would join the sit-in. The nonviolent action of these students sparked a nationwide sit-in movement.

* I ask my colleagues in the House to join me today in commemorating and celebrating these acts of heroism and the opening of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum on February 1, 2010. The Museum is located at the site of the February 1, 1960 sit-in and will be a lasting memorial to these historic acts.

* The courage of the students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Bennett College for Women, Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and Dudley High School serves to remind us of the important role that young people played, and continue to play, in the civil rights struggle and in the fight for equality and justice for all people. The International Civil Rights Center and Museum will be a monument to the sacrifices of freedom-loving people who came together to work for the promise of this nation.

* Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in and to thank those who labored to keep America's dream of democracy alive and real. I also encourage all citizens to join me in supporting the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

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