![Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain were the participants of the initial Greensboro sit-in, but they were supported by a local African-American community with a strong tradition of independent institutions and activism. They also had key allies in the white community. White shoe store owner Ralph Johns had long supported the NAACP, serving as the chapter's vice president in the 1940s and 1950s, and was committed to the idea of demonstrating against segregated public facilities. For several years he tried to persuade black employees and students to go to a lunch counter and demand service. Joseph McNeil believed that Johns's involvement in the black community "was far greater than [that of] any other merchant." As a result of his involvement, eggs were thrown at his store windows and rocks were thrown at him. He received numerous insults and threats, including bomb threats and obscene letters. In this interview from 1978, Johns relates his recollection of his role in the planning of the sit-ins.](../../../content/thumbnails/johns_icon_b4d130268a.gif "Planning the Sit-In: A Shoe-Store Owner's Recollection (Ralph Johns)"){kind=icon}
After Reconstruction, white Southerners began to implement a series of laws that segregated African Americans and restricted their access to public accommodations. These "Jim Crow" laws worked to support white supremacy and to systematically disadvantage African Americans. When on February 1, 1960, Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, four students from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College, sat down at the white-only lunch counter in the Greensboro F.W. Woolworth's store, refusing to leave until they were served, they made a stand against white supremacy and segregation. Their activism strengthened African-American grassroots efforts to fight injustice, inspired sit-ins across the South and transformed the Civil Rights Movement.
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