Campus Highlights

N.C. A&T to Commemorate 58th Sit-In; Award-Winning Journalist April Ryan to Keynote

In continued honor of the legacy of Jibreel Khazan (Ezell Blair Jr.), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond -- better known collectively as the A&T Four, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will hold the 58th Annual February One Sit-In Commemorative program “Conscious for the Culture.” The university will welcome White House correspondent and CNN political analyst April Ryan as the keynote speaker for the event scheduled for 8 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 1, at the Alumni Foundation Event Center.

Similar to the leadership and courageous acts of the A&T Four’s protest against segregated lunch counters (which ignited a national sit-in movement) and corresponding segregation laws of the 1960s, Ryan has been a leader among her peers. She stands alone as the only black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House, a position she’s held for American Urban Radio Networks since the Clinton era.

Ryan has served on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association, one of only three African Americans to do so in the association’s over 100-year history. Even in the face of often pointed criticism and ostracism, she continues to champion the cause and agenda of minorities.

An award-winning journalist, she has been featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Elle magazines, The New York Times, The Washington Post and numerous other publications. Additionally, she is the 2017 National Association of Black Journalist’s Journalist of the Year and a Terker Fellow with the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs.

A Baltimore native and graduate of Morgan State University, Ryan uses her platform to not only draw attention to underserved and less championed causes for minorities, particularly African Americans, but she also serves as a mentor to aspiring journalists and broadcasters.

Following the Sit-In breakfast, there will be a book signing for Ryan’s award-winning books, “The Presidency in Black and White,” and her latest, “At Mama’s Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White.”

Tickets for the Sit-In breakfast are no longer available but the event will be streamed via Facebook Live.

The full Sit-In program schedule, including a panel discussion is as follows:

Sit-In Breakfast
7 a.m.
Alumni Foundation Event Center

Laying of the A&T Four Memorial Wreath
10 a.m.
February One Monument

Panel Discussion
10:30 a.m.
Harrison Auditorium