U.S. Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) introduced legislation Friday (Feb. 11) honoring the four African-American students whose Feb. 1, 1960 sit-in at the whites-only counter at the Woolworth store in Greensboro, N.C., helped ignite the Civil Rights movement across the south.

Filner, who himself was  jailed in 1961 for Freedom Riding activities in Mississippi, described the Greensboro Four as "an inspiration to all of us fighting for racial justice in the south. And we need to continue to learn from their example." 

The four, all students at the time at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, were David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain and Ezell Blair Jr., the latter of whom later adopted the name Jibreel Khazan.

Filner's resolution would applaud "the valor and vigorous efforts" of the Greensboro Four and encourage "all Americans to remember the contributions they made to the Civil Rights movement.

—Donald H. Harrison