[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 2, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H339-H340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND THE GREENSBORO FOUR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Manning) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. MANNING. Mr. Speaker, on February 1, 1960, four young Black North 
Carolina A&T State University students began a revolution with the 
simple but fiercely significant act of sitting down.
  David Richmond, Jibreel Khazan, Joe McNeil, and Franklin McCain, 
``The Greensboro Four,'' took their seats at the White-only lunch 
counter of the Woolworth Department Store in Greensboro, North 
Carolina. Despite being met with hostility and a store manager who 
refused them service, the Greensboro Four stayed seated at that 
counter, refusing to stand until the store closed.
  The next day they returned to the Woolworth Store with 25 more 
students, including Bennett Belles from the neighboring Bennett 
College, an all-female HBCU. Their movement spread to 55 cities in 13 
States. Protest signs read: Support North Carolina Students, in 
demonstrations outside the South. By the end of 1960, 400 
demonstrations had taken place across the country.
  By staying seated at that counter, those students inspired the Nation 
to stand up against the blatantly racist Jim Crow laws of that time.

  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to recognize the Greensboro 
Four and the courageous students who joined their protest, sparking a 
national

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movement for civil rights. Those students exhibited great bravery in 
the face of violence from counter protesters. All the while, they 
remained peaceful and undeterred.
  Their peaceful protest left a legacy that shaped the Civil Rights 
Movement. That sit-in, and hundreds that followed, led to the 1960s 
Civil Rights Act, a crucial step toward dismantling segregation.
  Today, that very Woolworth Building is the location of Greensboro's 
amazing International Civil Rights Center and Museum, which still 
contains that lunch counter and enshrines this movement in history, 
commemorating the actions of the Greensboro Four and all who joined 
them. That museum was recently denied a shuttered operator grant.
  Last year, I joined my fellow North Carolina Representatives, Alma 
Adams and G.K. Butterfield, in leading a congressional resolution to 
honor the Greensboro Four. The resolution encourages all States to 
teach the history of the Greensboro Four sit-in in their educational 
curriculum.
  I was proud to reintroduce that resolution with Representatives Adams 
and Butterfield again this year on the 62nd anniversary of the sit-in.
  This Black History Month, and all year long, it is vital that we 
recognize the countless contributions of Black Americans and the work 
that remains to end racism and ensure equality and justice for all.

                              {time}  1100

  I am proud to be the representative of the city of Greensboro and all 
of North Carolina's Triad Sixth District. I will do everything I can to 
preserve this history, honor our civil rights heroes, and combat racism 
and discrimination in all forms.
  As we reflect on this event, it is important to recognize that even 
with the odds stacked against these students, they never lost hope. 
They saw our Nation broken and segregated. They faced hatred every day, 
but they persevered and successfully led a movement that changed the 
Nation.
  Today, we draw inspiration and hope from the Greensboro Four.

                          ____________________