Various news outlets are reporting that Franklin McCain - who on Feb. 1, 1960 sat down at a white's only lunch counter in Greensboro with three fellow North Carolina A&T students, sparking nationwide sit-ins - has died.

• National Museum of American History (flickr Creative Commons)
• McCain, left, and the other surviving members of the Greensboro Four at an event in 2010.

On Feb. 2, 1960, 25 more students joined McCain, Ezell Blair Jr. (Jibreel Khazan), Joseph McNeil and David Richmond, which created a series of statewide sit-ins that eventually spread throughout the country (250 by the end of that month alone).

McCain was born in Union County but grew up in Washington, D.C. He attended A&T, graduating in 1964, and married Bettye Davis. He worked at the Celanese Corp. in Charlotte for almost 35 years. He is survived by his six sons and their families.

"Our Daddy was a man who deeply loved his family and cherished his friends," says Franklin McCain, Jr., McCain's oldest son. "We will forever treasure the wonderful memories that we have and be thankful for all that he did for us and for his fellow man."

Read digtriad.com's full piece here. Learn more about the Greensboro Four here.