these four were franklin mccain, ezell blair, joseph mcneal, and david richmond. they were freshmen at north carolina a&t state university, a historically black university here. they came to the store, sat at the lunch counter and asked to order i believe some coffee and a piece of pie. the response was really mixed. "you boys go on from here," i think another waitress was saying, "we don't serve colored people here.” the word spread quickly the next day that this was going to be ongoing and that other people were wanting to get involved. other adults were showing up there were other students that said we want to be part of this. students from bennett college and what is now uncg but was at the time women's college. other students who wanted to get involved and stand behind this brave, courageous step. they weighed the consequences. they talked about being afraid but they also talked about what i would say that courage many is not the lack of fear, it's doing what is right in the face of fear. it's the way they decided to finally come here and take the step that d