AT THE SMITHSONIAN

Sneak Peek of “Seizing Justice: The Greensboro 4”

Airing February 11, the Smithsonian Channel documentary tells the story of the lunch counter sit-in that helped to change the country

Leah Binkovitz
Ezell A. Blair, Jr.
Ezell A. Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin E. McCain, Joseph A. McNeil, and David L. Richmond leave the Woolworth store after the first sit-in on February 1, 1960. Courtesy of Greensboro News and Record

In 1960, Joseph McNeil looked at the world of Jim Crow segregation around him and asked, "My God, when is it going to stop? Who’s going to stand up and say no?” As one of the four college freshmen who led the now famous sit-in that began February 1 at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, McNeil decided he would be the one to say no. His story, along with the stories of Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, and David Richmond, is featured in the Smithsonian Channel program, Seizing Justice: The Greensboro 4

Seizing Justice: The Greensboro 4 Sneak Peek
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Leah Binkovitz

Leah Binkovitz is a Stone & Holt Weeks Fellow at Washington Post and NPR. Previously, she was a contributing writer and editorial intern for the At the Smithsonian section of Smithsonian magazine.