Joseph McNeil, Young Spark in a Civil Rights Battle, Dies at 83

Source: New York Times

Joseph McNeil, Young Spark in a Civil Rights Battle, Dies at 83

He and his classmates from a historically Black college in Greensboro, N.C., desegregated a Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960, inspiring similar protests across the nation.


Four Black college students sit at a lunch counter, where they have been denied service. A Black employee, head down, moves past them in the background.

From left, Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Billy Smith and Clarence Henderson on the second day of the sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., in February 1960. Mr. McNeil and Mr. McCain had also participated on the first day. Jack Moebes/Greensboro News & Record

By Bernard Mokam
https://www.nytimes.com/by/bernard-mokam
Sept. 5, 2025
Updated 3:14 p.m. ET

Joseph McNeil, who jolted the civil rights movement with a surge of youth activism when he and three other freshmen from a historically Black college held a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. -- a nonviolent protest that motivated students across the nation to rally, march and picket -- died on Thursday in a hospice in Port Jefferson, N.Y. on Long Island. He was 83. ... His wife, Ina McNeil, said the cause was Parkinson's disease.

On the afternoon of Feb. 1, 1960, Mr. McNeil and three classmates from what is now North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro approached the whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's, sat on the turquoise- and salmon-colored vinyl seats and nervously ordered coffee.

Mr. McNeil said that he and his friends -- Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (later known as Jibreel Khazan) and David Richmond -- wanted to provoke a confrontation and, they hoped, force an immediate change in policy at the five-and-dime chain store. Woolworth's allowed Black people to shop at the store for school supplies and other items, and to use the lunch counter's carryout section. They were prohibited from using seats at the counter and being waited on.

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The original Greensboro Four leaving the Woolworth's after the first day of their sit-in in 1960. From left were David Richmond, Mr. McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (later known as Jibreel Khazan) and Mr. McNeil "We stayed because we did not just want to win the battle," Mr. McNeil said. "We wanted to win the war."Jack Moebes/Greensboro News & Record, via ITVS

They did not hold out much hope for local support from the Greensboro business community, they later said in interviews, but they sought to gain attention that might embarrass stockholders or executives at the chain's New York headquarters. ... The waitress took immediate exception to their presence. "We don't serve Negroes here," she said. ... She summoned her manager, who ordered the students to leave. They remained seated.

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Ash Wu contributed reporting.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/us/joseph-mcneil-dead.html