The room went dark as the monitor showed a two-minute clip from a documentary put out by the Smithsonian, and then showed a much longer work by Bayonne High School students who paired photos and film clips with poetry they wrote to commemorate the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.
The display was a kickoff for a guest speaker who came to Bayonne High School on Feb. 27 to talk to the students in recognition of Black History Month. Joseph McNeil, one of the “Greensboro Four,” was there to discuss the significance of the incident he lived through more than 50 years ago.
On Feb. 1, 1960, four African-American college students from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina decided that they were not going to be discriminated against anymore and ordered their food at the counter of the F.W. Woolworth’s store in Greenville, N.C. They refused to leave when they were not served.
Although a small act, it took great courage at a time when people had been arrested, beaten, and killed for doing less. One African American had been beaten and shot for supposedly whistling at a white waitress not much longer before the Wooworth’s event.
McNeil sat through both clips, slowing nodding over the historic facts presented. Slowly, his eyes grew wide and his attention more focused as the student presentation came on, images of hateful deeds confronted by great courage put to words written and read by Bayonne High School students.
Impressed
McNeil said he was extremely impressed with the presentation that the students put on, saying that they were clearly moving in the right direction.
“You knocked me out of my socks,” McNeil said when the film concluded and the lights came back on.
McNeil, a native of Wilmington, N.C., moved with his family to New York after graduating from high school. When he returned to North Carolina to attend college, he saw the segregated South as something that needed to be confronted. The spark that lit the fire under him came after he was refused service at a lunch counter in the bus terminal in Greensboro.
Angered, he went back to his dormitory, where he and three of his classmates decided they were going to do something about it. The next day, they went to Woolworth’s.
This began a series of sit-ins – non-violent protests that spread to cities throughout the South that were magnified by media coverage. Woolworth’s department store reversed its policy of radical segregation in the South in July of 1960.
But McNeil had his own lesson in prejudice to learn, telling the students that during his sit-in at Woolworth’s, he saw an old white lady down at the other end of the counter. She eventually came up to them, put her hand on his shoulder, and said, “Boys, I’m really disappointed in you.”
“Ma’am?” McNeil said. “What did we do?”
“I’m disappointed that it took you boys this long to do this,” she said.
McNeil said he learned that he had prejudged that white woman, which is the essence of racism.
After this protest, McNeil went back to college. “I thought I owed my parents to finish college,” he said.
After graduating, McNeil was commissioned by the U.S. Air Force and spent six years as an officer and attained the rank of captain. During his tenure in the Air Force, he started a series of diversity programs and also worked in computer sales for IBM, as a commercial banker for Bankers Trust in New York City, and as a stock broker for E.F. Hutton in Fayetteville, N.C. He recently retired from the Air Force Reserves, having achieved the rank of major general.
The assembly program was offered by Cablevision’s Power to Learn, a multi-faceted initiative dedicated to integrating technology into education, and the Smithsonian Channel.
“Young people have a thirst for knowledge and want to better understand America’s history.” – Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell
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Students did their own poems and research
Schools Superintendent Dr. Patricia McGeehan said Bayonne High School students wrote and read their own poetry for the presentation, selecting their own images from historical record. Students also did the historical research.
“You took a complicated subject and got it right,” McNeil said.
The students who read poetry in the video included Anthony Golden, Charmaine Castro, Joshua Octaviano, Jan-Alfred Aquino, Daniel Brown, Aassem Hadiouche, Su Jin Cappello, Mina Henaen, Amanda Sarria, Alyssa Ruhlen, Marina Makram, Sean Shaeen, Michelle Klejmont, Anastasia Turin, Nadine Elebrashy, Barbara Hanna, and Nicole Garzone.
Researchers included Maged Abdelmalek, Ana Addesso, Salman Ali, Greg Bednarowicz, Sara Boutrs, Kingston Chen, Matt Chiaravalloti, Maria Ghaly, Veramarie Jimenez, John Long, Jasmine Mahmoud, Sandra Miranda, Gabrielle Nalewajek, Wei Pan, Shivangi Parmar, Julie Petulla, Rai Prudencio, Ahmed Sana Ullah, Laiba Shah, Mina Shnoudah, and Daniel Veronese.
Some others that participated in the event included Bayonne NAACP President Al Strickland; New Jersey NAACP President James Harris; Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell; Principal Richard Baccarella; Mayor Mark Smith; Teacher Deidre Hurley; National Museum of American History Director of African American Culture Christopher Wilson; Assemblyman Charles Mainor; Cablevision Vice President of Education Trent Anderson; Bayonne BOE Director of Language Arts, Social Studies and Service Learning Dan Ward; Smithsonian Channel Representative Lakeisha McCoy; Cablevision Director of Government Affairs Don Viapree; BHS Principal Richard Baccarella; and National Museum of American History Director Wilson.
Junior honors social studies and English teachers Deidre Hurley and Tim Maset introduced the student presentations, which included poetry and a video relating to the civil rights movement.
McNeil then spoke to the students and participated in a question and answer session.
Assemblyman Mainor applauded Cablevision’s Power to Learn and the Smithsonian Channel for the program.
“Programs such as this are vital, as they make history literally come to life and connect students firsthand with historic figures such as Joseph McNeil,” he said. “I am sure everyone here today will walk away with a better understanding of the civil rights movement and how four individuals changed history through non-violence.”
“Young people have a thirst for knowledge and want to better understand America’s history,” said Assemblyman O’Donnell. “Today’s program focused on the life of four brave men and taught students that ordinary people can do extraordinary things that help transform society.”
“I was thoroughly moved by today’s program, and from the looks on the faces of the students, I believe they were too,” said Mayor Smith. “It provided an opportunity for young people to learn about the many contributions of African-Americans and helped them gain insight into the endurance of the American spirit and the importance of the civil rights movement.”
Cablevision Vice President of Education Anderson added, “Cablevision’s Power to Learn program is committed to providing students and their schools with some of the latest educational tools. Exploring African-American history and iconic figures, such as the members of the Greensboro Four, is a perfect example of how these tools can be used to benefit young people today.”