Ezell A. Blair Jr.

Ezell A. Blair Jr. is an African American civil rights activist who was one of the Greensboro Four. On February 1, 1960, they sat down at a segregated lunch counter in the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's store, challenging the store's policy on segregation. This event was a major milestone in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.cite book
last=Davis
first=Townsend
coauthors=
title=Weary Feet, Rested Souls: A Guided History of the Civil Rights Movement
publisher=W. W. Norton & Company
date=1998
location=New York
pages=311
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=S7IYlI9KopkC
doi=
id=
isbn=0393045927 ]

Background and Education

Blair's father, Ezell A. Blair Sr. was a very vocal man, on the subject of racial injustice. When his father experienced unjust treatment based on color, he "stood up." This had a big impact on Blair growing up.cite book
last=Chafe
first=William Henry
coauthors=
title=Civilities and civil rights : Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black struggle for freedom
publisher=Oxford University Press
date=1980
location=New York
pages=81
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=EP7sduWSTkYC
doi=
id=
isbn=019502625X ]

Blair graduated from Dudley High School, where his father taught, and was awarded a B.S. in sociology from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1963. While an undergraduate, he was elected president of his class in his Junior year, was president of the student government association, the campus NAACP and the Greensboro Congress for Racial Equality.cite web
title=Jibreel Khazan (Fomerly Ezell Blair Jr.)
work=The Greensboro Four
publisher=Video Dialog Inc.
date=
url=http://www.februaryonedocumentary.com/jibreel.html
format=html
doi=
accessdate=2008-01-21]

Civil rights involvement before the sit-in

In 1958, Blair traveled to Bennett College while still in high school to hear Martin Luther King, Jr. speak. He was "captivated" as King addressed the audience. At that speech, King called for an escalation of non-violent protests to end segregated accommodation. King remarked that as a youngster in Atlanta, he "never took a seat on the back of the busses. ... I was only there physically, but my mind was up front."cite book
last=King
first=Martin Luther, Jr.
authorlink=Martin Luther King, Jr.
coauthors=Carson, Clayborne; Holloran, Peter; Luker, Ralph; Russell, Penny A.
title=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Vol IV, Symbol of the Movement
publisher=University of California Press
date=1992
location=Berkeley
pages=38
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qW-NYdIefPgC
doi=
id=
isbn=0520079507 ] King's words had a powerful impact on Blair, "so strong that I could feel my heart palpitating. It brought tears to my eyes."

it-in

On February 1, 1960, Blair was a freshman student at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College, an all black college when he, along with classmates David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain took the bold step of violating the Greensboro Woolworth's segregation policy.

Blair stated that he had seen a documentary on Gandhi's use of "passive insistence" that had inspired him to act. Each of the participants in the sit had different catalysts, but it is clear that the four men had a close friendship that mutually reinforced their desire to act.

Later life

Blair moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1965 after finding life difficult in Greensboro, having been labeled a "troublemaker". In 1968, he joined the Islamic Center of New England and changed his name to Jibreel Khazan.cite web
title=FebruaryOne: The Story of the Greensboro Four
work=Independent Lens
publisher=Public Broadcasting System
date=2008
url=http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/februaryone/four.html
format=html
doi=
accessdate=2008-01-21]

Today, Khazan works with developmentally challenged in New Bedford where he lives with his wife Lorraine.

References