Franklin Eugene McCain (January 3, 1941 – January 9, 2014) was an American civil rights activist and member of the Greensboro Four. McCain and three other North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) freshman students - Ezell Blair, Jr. (later known as Jibreel Khazan), Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond - staged a sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, on February 1, 1960, to protest the store's policy, which refused to serve African American customers. The four sat at the lunch counter and were refused service by staff. McCain and his friends remained at the counter until Woolworth's closed at the end of the day. Their actions are credited with launching the Greensboro sit-ins, a peaceful protest movement which led to the Woolworth department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in the American South.McCain was born in Union County, North Carolina, on January 3, 1941. He attended James B. Dudley High School in Greenboro for one year, but moved with his family to Northeast, Washington, D.C.. McCain graduated from Eastern High School in Washington D.C. in 1959.McCain enrolled at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) during the Fall 1959 semester, just months before joining three other freshman to stage the Greensboro Four sit-in at Woolworth's in February 1960. According to Jibreel Khazan, "Frank [McCain] would say we didn't want to set the world on fire, we just wanted to sit down and eat like everybody else. We wanted to be included in the round table of humanity." The section of the lunch counter where the four sat is now preserved at the National Museum of American History.Franklin McCain received bachelor's degrees in both biology and chemistry from A&T in 1964. He moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he worked at the Celanese Corporation, a chemical manufacturer, for thirty-five years, and remained actively involved with the local community. In a 2014 interview with the Winston-Salem Journal, Joseph McNeil, one of two surviving sit-in members, noted that "He [McCain] was not one dimensional by any means...He led a full and productive life. He and his wife Bettye raised three boys...He was loved and respected by his community, the Charlotte community. He played a key role in North Carolina’s educational system. But Frank McCain was a man who believed in the dignity of mankind and he spent his life trying to make the world a better place for not just his offspring, but all of us."McCain was a member of the board of trustees for both North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and North Carolina Central University, as well as the Board of Visitors of Bennett College. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina until 2013.McCain died from respiratory complications at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the age of 73. He was survived by three sons: Franklin
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Spouse
Bettye Davis McCain
Children
Franklin McCain Jr., W. Bertrand McCain, Wendell McCain
Parents
Mattie McCain, Warner McCain;
Star Sign
Capricorn
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Quote
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We finally felt we were being hypocritical because we were doing the same thing that everyone else had done, nothing. Up to then, we were armchair activists. [in an interview with the News and Record]
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We had no notion that we'd even be served. What we wanted to do was serve notice, more than anything else, that we were going to be about trying to achieve some of the rights and privileges we were due as citizens of this country. [in an interview with the Washington Post]
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Fact
1
He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology in 1964. He worked as a chemist and sales executive, spending much of his career with the Celanese Corp. in Charlotte. He served on his college's board of trustees and on the University of North Carolina's board of governors.
2
He was one of the "Greensboro Four" who, in 1960, sat down at a whites-only lunch counter at Woolworth's. The other three were David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Ezell Blair Jr. All four were freshmen majoring in science at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina.
$6 Million
