Joseph McNeil

Joseph Alfred McNeil (March 25, 1942 – September 4, 2025) was a major general in the United States Air Force who was best known for being a member of the Greensboro Four – a group of African American college students who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, challenging the store's policy of denying service to non-white customers.

Early life and education Joseph McNeil was born on March 25, 1942, in Wilmington, North Carolina. His parish priest at St. Thomas Catholic Church was known to be a supporter of civil rights.

McNeil attended Williston Senior High School, where he was greatly influenced by his high school teachers. Williston Senior High School was a black school, so there were things taught to their students that were probably not taught at the integrated schools. His high school instructors taught their students what their rights were as citizens: what rights they should and do not have, how they could go about obtaining their rights, and how they should react if their homes were invaded. Teachers would often say things like, "They can take your house, your car, all your physical belongings, but they can't take what you have up here." In the fall, McNeil entered North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University on a full scholarship. A stark contrast from the more open northern society he was used to, McNeil found it difficult living in the segregated South.

Greensboro civil rights sit-ins

While attending North Carolina A&T, McNeil met three other freshmen – Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, and David Richmond – who gravitated towards one another because they lived on the same floor of the dormitory and shared similar interests. The four would later become known as the Greensboro Four. After attending a concert with his friends, McNeil snapped into action because he watched several members of the audience being inconsiderate and arrogant. It was at that moment that McNeil and his peers wanted to act in response to the unacceptable behavior observed at the concert. McNeil would pray and attend church because the church was the rallying point of the movement, and it is a rallying point today. Gandhi's ways were expedient, and they were the only thing that McNeil and others in the Civil Rights Movement could do. The people acting in the Civil Rights Movement could not afford to be violent because it would blow the image that the movement was trying to project. Once there, the men purchased some items, and then sat down at the "whites only" lunch counter, where the group was refused service. McNeil and the group stayed until the store closed, and then left to return the next day.

Military career In July 1963, McNeil was assigned to James Connally Air Force Base near Waco, Texas, for Training. From 1964 to 1969, McNeil was assigned to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota where he served as a KC-135 navigator.

Civilian honors and legacy McNeil held four honorary doctorates: a Doctor of Philosophy degree from his alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University in 1991; a Doctor of Laws degree from St. John's University in 1998; a Doctor of Humanities from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2010; and a Doctor of Laws degree from Molloy College in 2015.

In 2002, North Carolina A&T commissioned a statue to be sculpted honoring McNeil, along with the three other members of the A&T four: Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (later known as Jibreel Khazan), and David Richmond. In addition, the four men each have residence halls named for them on the university campus. In 2010, McNeil was the recipient of the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution.

Personal life and death McNeil was married to Ina McNeil (née Brown), an accomplished Indigenous quilt maker of Lakota descent, and the great-great-granddaughter of Chief Sitting Bull.