Joseph McNeil
*Joseph McNeil was born on this date in 1942. He is a Black retired military officer and college activist.
Joseph Alfred McNeil was born in Wilmington, North Carolina. He grew up in Wilmington and was president of his parish's Catholic Youth Council. McNeil attended Williston Senior High School, a Black school, where instructors taught their students their citizenship rights. This included what rights they should and shouldn't have, how they could obtain their rights, and how they should react if their homes were invaded. Senior High School had some excellent, inspirational teachers who instilled a real "go out and do something" mentality in their students.
After high school graduation, his family moved to New York City to seek better job opportunities. McNeil entered North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University on a full scholarship. A stark contrast from the more open northern society, McNeil found it difficult living in the segregated South. It was at North Carolina A&T where McNeil met three other freshmen: Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, and David Richmond. They lived on the same floor of the dormitory and shared similar interests. After attending a concert, McNeil watched several whites in the audience being racially mean and arrogant. It was at that moment that McNeil and his peers began to read several books from the library; one was The New Negro.
He was a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at North Carolina A&T. ROTC taught McNeil a different type of leadership. People within the local community, ministers, and undertakers supported the movement, including putting up their land as bail. Suppose he needed bail to go to jail. McNeil often conversed with white NAACP members and local Greensboro merchant Ralph Johns. Johns told McNeil how he tried to convince people to do a sit-in type of protest, and McNeil felt a deep need to contribute. The Greensboro sit-ins became a reality because of community support, and Johns was the one who notified the press about the sit-in at the downtown Greensboro Woolworth Store.
On February 1, 1960, McNeil and three other A&T freshmen walked from the university's library to the downtown Greensboro Woolworth store. Once there, the men purchased items from a desegregated counter, sat down at the "whites only" lunch counter, and were refused service. McNeil and the group stayed until the store closed, then left to return the next day; they became known as the Greensboro Four. As media coverage of the demonstrations grew, more protests occurred throughout North Carolina and other Southern cities. As sales at boycotted stores began to be affected by the protests, store owners began to serve all customers in their establishments.
After staging the sit-ins, McNeil formed the Student Executive Committee for Justice. This joint organization between A&T students and the women of nearby Bennett College focused on the picketing of segregated downtown Greensboro establishments. McNeil would later participate in negotiations between student protesters, Woolworth's management, and the Human Relations Commission. In 1963, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering physics. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant for Training through the university's ROTC program near Waco, Texas.
From 1964 to 1969, McNeil was assigned to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. In 1967, McNeil married Ina McNeil (nee Brown). Brown, an Indigenous quilt maker, is of Lakota descent and the great-great-granddaughter of Chief Sitting Bull. The two met while he was stationed in South Dakota, working with an organization that exposed discriminatory housing practices in the state. The two have five children. McNeil spent time in Southeast Asia. During this period, he was promoted to first lieutenant and captain. In 1972, McNeil served in New Jersey. In 1989, he was promoted to major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel. After leaving active duty, McNeil continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve.
In 2000, McNeil retired from the Air Force Reserve and received the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal. McNeil retired from the Federal Aviation Administration after serving for over 15 years. McNeil holds four honorary doctorates from North Carolina A&T State University, St. John's University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Molloy College. In 2002, North Carolina A&T commissioned a statue to be sculpted honoring the Greensboro Four.
