N.C. A&T community celebrates 65th anniversary of civil rights sit-in

Feb. 1 will mark the 65th anniversary of when four North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University freshmen staged a sit-in at a Greensboro lunch counter to fight segregation. 

Hundreds of students, staff and alumni celebrated the A&T Four on Friday. The theme of this year’s event was “perseverance.”

The guest speaker, retired U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield of Wilson, North Carolina, explained how the A&T Four exemplified that.

“They got up that morning, [in] Scott Hall, and made their way down to Woolworth and sat at the lunch counter, and they changed the course of history," Butterfield said. "It didn't happen overnight. It took weeks and weeks and weeks of protests, not just by these four, but by others from the campus as well.” 

Now, Butterfield says, the community has a responsibility to keep fighting for the same principles.  

“My challenge to you is that we must continue the struggle," he said. "It's a struggle for equity. It's a struggle for inclusion.”

After the program, attendees headed to the February One monument for a wreath-laying ceremony, and performance by the university’s gospel choir.

In the crowd, watching with pride, was 82-year-old Frances Herbin Lewis. The A&T Four were her classmates, and this event, she says, always feels like a reunion. 

“We have stayed close like a family for all of these years," Lewis said. "Once an Aggie, you're always an Aggie.”

She started at the university in 1959 and took part in the sit-ins the following year. At the time, she says it just felt like her civic duty. Now, this annual celebration means a lot to her. 

“It could be one of the highlights of your life. You look forward to this celebration each year, you know, to not let it die down," she said. "Keep up the momentum and let students who are coming into the universities see what has been done and what they can do.”

The ceremony closed with a performance of the university's alma mater song. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.