Reps. Alma Adams and Kathy Manning Introduce Resolution Honoring Greensboro Four
McNeil, Khazan, McCain, and Richmond Sparked a Movement that Helped End Segregation

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (D, NC-12), and Congresswoman Kathy Manning (D, NC-06) introduced a resolution today to honor the Greensboro Four, who helped spark a national movement to end segregation.
"I am proud to co-lead a resolution honoring the Greensboro Four with my friend and fellow North Carolinian, Congresswoman Kathy Manning,” said Rep. Adams. “The Greensboro Four, and the Bennett women who helped them organize, ignited social change and took a monumental step toward racial equality. Today, nearly 70 years after Emmett Till was murdered, it is easy to take our freedoms for granted. There are fewer and fewer of us who remember growing up in an era when we could be denied entry to a restaurant, denied an education, even murdered without protection of the law, for the color of our skin. We have to share these stories so we never forget the freedom for which we fought. There can be no question of their contribution to the Civil Rights Movement and American history.”
“As the Representative from Greensboro, home of North Carolina A&T State University, I am proud to recognize the contributions of the A&T Four, as well as the Bennett Belles and students from Dudley High School, who joined their peaceful protest in solidarity. Their actions sparked a sit-in movement that changed the course of our nation,” said Rep. Manning. “I’m proud to join Rep. Adams in leading this resolution to honor their legacies and encourage the teaching of this moment in history in schools across the nation.”
Beginning in February of 1960, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University freshmen Joseph McNeil, Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair, Jr.), Franklin McCain, and David Richmond led a six-month sit-in at F.W. Woolworth cafeteria in Greensboro, North Carolina, where Rep. Adams spent most of her life. Their peaceful protest was prompted by the brutal murder of Black fourteen-year-old Emmett Till. After his murder, the four students gathered with women from Bennett College, and designed a plan that helped spur a national movement to end institutionalized segregation. By summer, over 700,000 people had participated in peaceful sit-ins across North Carolina and the country.
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Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. represents North Carolina's 12th Congressional District (Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Cabarrus County) and serves on the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, where she serves as ranking member of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee.