By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
Franklin McCain accomplished a great feat on Friday at Rashkis Elementary School – he held the attention of 250 fourth- and fifth-graders for more than an hour.
McCain, one of the “Greensboro Four†who participated in the 1960 Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, recounted his experiences for Rashkis students, including his grandson, kindergartener Davis McCain.
McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr. and David Richmond took seats at the Woolworth’s segregated lunch counter to ask for service on Feb. 1, 1960. They continued to sit at the counter every day, joined by more people each day, until finally, in July, they were served. Their actions inspired sit-ins across the country and are considered seminal moments in the civil rights movement.
Rashkis students crowded around McCain in the school’s media center for what resembled a grandfather telling stories to his grandchildren.
“I’ll tell you some things that are pretty hard to believe,†McCain began. “The times weren’t all that good and fair. You know what fair is, don’t you?â€
Throughout his talk, McCain quizzed students about different things he said or words he used. He told students about segregated schools, pools and restaurants, and how he got angry as he got older.
“You know I couldn’t even go over to McDonald’s and get a Happy Meal,†McCain told the students, who responded with gasps. “Couldn’t swim, couldn’t go to the pool.… Couldn’t even go to the park.
“When I was 12 years old, I was so angry, if you touched me with a pin, I would have popped.â€
McCain went to North Carolina A&T State University, where he met McNeil, Blair and Richmond. He told Rashkis students that the four young men would sit around every night talking about how unfair segregation was, and that finally they decided to do something about it.
“We decided that we were going to go down to [Woolworth’s] and take a seat at that counter,†he said. Woolworth’s had a separate standing-only counter for blacks.
“We decided that we were going to do two things. We were going to be orderly … and we were going to be nonviolent,†McCain said. “We fully anticipated some bad things happening to us.â€
“It didn’t matter – it did not matter if I came back dead, because the kind of life I had to live and the conditions that I had to put up with made me question if this life was worth living,†he continued.
McCain and his three friends purchased some school supplies in the store, then took seats at the counter, where they asked for service and were denied. He told students how a policeman paced behind them with a nightstick and how people threw things at them, but they continued to sit and ask for service.
“There was a little old white lady with blue hair, who must’ve been about 200 years old, who sat about five feet down from me,†he told the students. “If you think about 1960 in the South and a 200-year-old white woman, and you are where you are not supposed to be, you’ve got to believe that she doesn’t have good thoughts about you.â€
“Well, she finished that doughnut and that coffee, and she strolled toward us, and she put one hand on my shoulder and one hand on Joseph McNeil’s shoulder.
“She said in a very calm voice, ‘Boys, I am so proud of you. I only regret that you didn’t do this 10 years ago.’â€
McCain told the students that he learned a very valuable lesson from that little old lady.
“Don’t you ever stereotype or make your mind up about somebody in this life before you get to know them†he continued. “Today, that lesson still lives with me.â€
At the end of McCain’s talk, when he asked students if they had any questions for him, hands shot up around the room. The students asked if he was scared, whether he got hungry while waiting for service and if he’d ever taken a drink from one of the whites-only water fountains.
McCain told students that when he finally did receive service, “that was about the nastiest hot dog I’ve ever had in my life.â€
McCain was surrounded by children asking for his autograph after his talk was over.
“It was very interesting that one person sitting on a stool could do so much,†said fifth-grader Megan Serody.
“We’ve learned a little bit about black history, but it was cool to hear it from someone who was actually there,†added Jane Carsey, a fifth-grade student at Rashkis.
McCain left the students with a final lesson: “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t matter. If your dream is big enough, you can do anything that you want to.â€