Major General Joseph McNeil’s impact on civil rights being remembered following his death

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Major General Joseph McNeil, one of the 4 students who helped spark sit-ins during the Civil Rights era, died at the age of 83 years old in Hempstead, New York.

A Wilmington native, Major General Joseph McNeil was born in 1942 and graduated from Williston Senior High School in 1959.

On February 1st, 1960, McNeil, then a freshman at North Carolina A&T State University, and 3 other African-American students walked into the Woolworth department store in Greensboro.

After ordering food from a desegregated counter, they walked over to the whites-only lunch counter, sitting there until the store closed, returning to do it again the next day.

His cousin, Henry McNeil, said these sit-ins surprised their family.

“His father, his parents, his family, no one had any idea that this was taking place until we heard it on the news the night of,” McNeil said. “He was being proactive and he had taken a positive step towards changing that situation.”

Their refusal to leave the counter launched other sit-ins, protests, and boycotts that helped eventually end segregation.

After college, McNeil went on to a decorated career in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserve.

In 2019, the city of Wilmington dedicated a portion of 3rd Street in McNeil’s honor.

Leron Montgomery, president of the New Hanover County chapter of the NAACP, said the street sign is just one way that McNeil’s legacy will live on.

“I think about the sacrifice he made and I think about the current times we live in and what he fought for and that we should continue to have that fight,” Montgomery said.

The Woolworth’s McNeil sat in is now the site of the International Civil Rights Museum, which he visited towards the end of his life.

Despite his impact, Henry said his cousin never boasted about his accomplishments.

“You would never recognize him as being a general officer or being involved in some of the things that he was involved in by just day-to-day contact with him. He would never reference those things. He really wanted to make sure that he left a place better off than it was when he went there.”

A funeral will be held in New York,  followed by a ceremony at NC A&T and then a service in Wilmington.

Dates for all 3 have not yet been determined.