February 25, 2008
3. Moment of Liberation
Fifteen seconds after … I had the most wonderful feeling. I had a feeling of liberation, restored manhood. I had a natural high. And I truly felt almost invincible. Mind you, [I was] just sitting on a dumb stool and not having asked for service yet.It's a feeling that I don't think that I'll ever be able to have again. It's the kind of thing that people pray for … and wish for all their lives and never experience it. And I felt as though I wouldn't have been cheated out of life had that been the end of my life at that second or that moment.
~Franklin McCain
NPR interview on the anniversary of the Feb. 1, 1960 Woolworth lunch counter sit-in
* NPR story
* Smithsonian's exhibit Separate is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education
* Independent Lens site for the film February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
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"Sometimes THE moment does not become clear as THE ONE until after the moment has passed"-- very nicely put. Of the three, my particular fav is "Moment of Liberation." No celebrities here; just awfully young people doing incredibly heroic things. These four Brothers made it possible for my grandmother to treat me to my first Woolworth's (Pittsburgh) famous 1-1-1 back in '72. It was one strip of bacon, one egg, and one piece of toast. I wish I could meet each one of them and just talk them. To tell them what their efforts meant to my grandmother. In fact, I often look at these photos and wonder where some of these folks are now.
Posted by: Sisterdoc at February 25, 2008 05:13 PMSisterdoc, I believe 3 of the original "Greensboro Four" are still living: Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blair Jr.), Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain who I quoted in the post from the recent NPR piece. David Richmond died in 1990. See this site for more info:
http://www.africanamericans.com/Greensboro4.htm
And great, BTW, you recalling exactly wht you ate at your own lunch!
Posted by: Yvette at February 27, 2008 03:18 PM