A Lifetime of Change

By Shari Einhorn

Talk about a lifetime of change!  Today I met Joseph McNeil.  You may or may not know his story.  On February 1, 1960 -- he was 17 and a soldier in the middle of the struggle for integration.

McNeil and three other students from a black college in North Carolina -- sat at the "Whites Only" counter at Woolworths.  It was unthinkable but they did it as an attempt to end the segregation that barred blacks from eating at public facilities throughout the South.

                                                         

They were told they wouldn't be served.  They were told to leave.  The store manager called the cops.  The 4 young men refused to leave.  The store closed early.  The next day 30 students came in -- and as word spread, sit-ins swept across the South.

Now -- fast forward to November 4, 2008 -- election day.  McNeil watches as our nations first black president is elected.  Barack Obama has broken color barriers that Joseph McNeil and his friends couldn't possibly have dreamed about.     

Click here to see Obama's acceptance speech.

So how does Joseph McNeil feel today?  He told me he was glued to the tv screen for a solid 3 to 4 hours last night.  He told me, "In one sense it took too long to happen but on the other hand -- I'm glad that it did happen when it did -- that I was able to see it in my time."

Shari