“We didn’t know what would happen. Nobody ever tried. We were dead serious about what we were doing,” said Dr. Franklin E. McCain Sr., in an article published in the February 1973 edition of A&T Today.

McCain and three other North Carolina A&T State University freshmen –Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair (now Jibreel Khazan) and David Richmond, started a civil-rights movement that would eventually galvanize more than 70,000 participants across the nation.

On February 1, 1960, the four African-American students sat down at a “whites only” lunch counter at F.W. Woolworth in Greensboro, N.C. and launched what would be later known as the sit-in movement.

On July 25, 1960, after months of protesting, organizing and lobbying for social equality, F. W. Woolworth served three African-American employees at its newly integrated lunch counter. The valiant efforts of the four young men from A&T and countless others made way for the 1964 Civil Rights Act which deemed the segregation of public facilities unlawful. 

McCain, a 1964 graduate of North Carolina A&T,  went on to become a chemist at the Celanese Corporation in Charlotte, N.C. where he worked for nearly 35 years. McCain married Bettye Davis, and together they had three sons, Franklin Jr., Wendell and Bertrand.

Through the years, McCain’s commitment to his community never wavered. He held memberships in the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the Bond Campaign for Mecklenburg County, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, board of visitors at Bennett College for Women, and board of trustees at N.C. Central University. He served as chair of A&T’s board of trustees, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and was an elder at Memorial Presbyterian Church.

He is the recipient of the many awards and honors, including the U.S. Congressional Citation Award; N.C. Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award; NAACP Achievement Award; and a proclamation and historic marker from the City of Greensboro.

Today, North Carolina A&T bears a monument and a residence hall named in honor of the four students. Each year, the university celebrates the A&T Four at the Feb. 1 commemorative services.

This year the 54th Sit-in Anniversary Celebration will be held on Friday, Jan. 31.