The four friends had talked about race and society throughout their first semester at N.C. A&T State University.

But Joseph McNeil, who had spent the winter break in New York City, knew during his bus trip back to school for the second semester that somebody had to stand up.

During that bus trip, he noticed more restrictions the farther south he traveled.

In Washington, D.C., there were whites-only restrooms. In Richmond, he couldn’t buy a hot dog at the lunch counter inside the station. He had to go to the back of the building if he wanted something.

He left hungry.

McNeil, who died Wednesday at the age of 83, would be best known for the moment in history that followed, when he and his friends — the late Franklin McCain, the late David Richmond and Jibreel Khazan (formerly Ezell Blai

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