Wednesday, May 05, 2010

The University of North Carolina Wilmington will recognize a local hero during its spring Commencement ceremonies May 7 and 8 as it awards an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities to Major General Joseph A. McNeil.

A Wilmington native and graduate of Williston Senior High School, McNeil is best known for his role in staging the nation's first lunch counter sit-in against racial segregation at a Woolworth's in Greensboro, N.C. in February 1960. He and three freshman classmates at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University (N.C. A&T) started this singular, transformative act of defiance, which ultimately helped set the stage for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when they sat down at the whites-only lunch counter and ordered coffee.
Refused service, the "Greensboro 4," as they came to be known, remained seated until closing. Within days, 300 people joined that sit-in, and protests began to spread to other cities in North Carolina, then Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Within two months, the movement spread to 54 cities in nine states and resulted in the desegregation of dozens of lunch counters across the South.

"Joseph McNeil experienced the ignominy of racial segregation, acted peacefully to assert his human and civil rights, and, as a speaker and lecturer, continues to spread his unique message of courage, accountability and change," said UNCW Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo. "We are proud to honor him as an extraordinary example of courage and perseverance."

McNeil went on to have many more accomplishments. Upon graduation from N.C. A&T in 1963 with a B.S. in engineering physics, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He spent six years on active duty, serving in Vietnam and other areas in Southeast Asia. After leaving active duty in 1969 with the rank of captain, he continued to serve in the Air Force Reserves. In 2001, he retired with the rank of major general, the highest rank a reservist can achieve.

In addition to his military service, McNeil has worked for IBM in computer sales, as a commercial banker for Banker's Trust and as a stock broker for E.F. Hutton. He then began a 15-year career with the Federal Aviation Administration, retiring in 2002 as manager of the New York Flight Standards District Office.

An honorary degree from UNC Wilmington is the highest accolade the university can bestow upon an individual who is not currently employed as a member of its faculty and staff. It is given to honor an individual who possesses outstanding qualities and talents, or who has made exceptional contributions in the field of his or her endeavor. McNeil is being honored for "excellence in fields other than those which would normally be called academic, i.e., the contributions which have enhanced society and its quality of life."

McNeil has received honorary degrees from N.C. A&T University in 1991 and St. John's University in 1998. He is married to the former Ina Brown, an accomplished American Indian quilt maker and the great-great granddaughter of Chief Sitting Bull. They have five children.

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, 910.962.7259 or fischettid@uncw.edu