[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH McNEIL, USAF 
                            RESERVE, RETIRED

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. KATHLEEN M. RICE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 2015

  Miss RICE of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize retired 
United States Air Force Major General Joseph McNeil, a resident of New 
York's fourth congressional district who is being honored today by the 
Franklin Square Historical Society.
   Fifty-five years ago this month, General McNeil was a 17 year old 
freshman at North Carolina A&T State University when he and three other 
freshmen entered a Woolworth's store in Greensboro, North Carolina and 
sat down at the whites-only counter. They were denied service and asked 
to leave, but they kept their seats until the store closed. The next 
morning, they came back with more students. Again they were denied 
service, and again they refused to leave. They were ridiculed and 
taunted, but they resisted provocation in their commitment to non-
violence. By the fourth day, as news spread, hundreds of students had 
joined the sit-in, and soon, similar peaceful protests had begun in 
other towns across North Carolina and beyond the state's borders.
   The young men who initiated this wave of civil disobedience live on 
in American history as the Greensboro Four. Their actions reflect the 
very best of the American character--the commitment to freedom and 
justice and equality, and the courage to confront injustice with the 
force of truth and disciplined nonviolence.
   As Black History Month draws to a close, I wish to recognize General 
McNeil for his instrumental role in a movement that has made the United 
States of America a better nation and the American people a better 
people. I wish also to recognize his distinguished service as a 
decorated officer in the United States Air Force and Air Force Reserves 
for more than three decades. I am tremendously grateful for General 
McNeil's contributions to our communities in New York's fourth 
congressional district, and it is my distinct honor to serve as his 
representative in Congress.

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