news-record.com

GREENSBORO - Supporters of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum had 14 million reasons to celebrate Saturday at the project's annual banquet.

That's how many dollars the group has amassed in recent months, with the bulk - $10 million - coming from an agreement struck Friday with two investment groups that will buy that amount in tax credits linked to the project in the former Woolworth's store in downtown Greensboro.

The nonprofit organization behind the museum formally announced plans before Saturday's banquet to open next year on the 50th anniversary of the sit-ins that made the store famous.

"This is a joyous occasion, but the real joy will come when we cut that ribbon on Feb. 1, 2010," said Melvin "Skip" Alston, chairman of the Sit-In Movement, Inc., the nonprofit behind the museum project. Alston also is chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

On Feb. 1, 1960, the dime store was the site of a sit-in by four N.C. A&T students who opposed the store's policy of serving only white people at the lunch counter. A six-month protest ensued, triggering similar demonstrations across the South and helping to usher in the nationwide movement that ultimately ended the Jim Crow era of segregation.

In addition to $10 million from the sale of tax credits, local foundations and a variety of corporations have made $4 million in new pledges to help complete the project, Alston said.

Tax credits are purchased by private investors who use them to reduce their state and federal taxes on profits made in other business ventures.

In this case, Alston said the museum's tax credits are being bought by Stonehenge Capital of New York and Columbus, Ohio, and by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a federal program with a for-profit subsidiary that deals in tax credits.

Alston estimated the project's total cost would be about $22 million, including $9 million already invested in restoring the building, dealing with huge waterproofing problems and building exhibits.

The banquet was held at the Sheraton Greensboro at Four Seasons, where the group gave achievement awards to singer-actor Harry Belafonte and the Rev. Shirley Caesar, a well-known gospel singer.

The project's pending completion drew praise from Jibreel Khazan, one of the four N.C. A&T freshmen who began the sit-ins 49 years ago today.

He gave thanks to all who were making the completion possible "on behalf of our families and the martyrs who have made it possible to stand on their shoulders."

Khazan, then known as Ezell Blair Jr., was joined at the segregated Woolworth's counter by Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and the late David Richmond.

The project also won praise from Belafonte, 81, who is known almost as well for social and political activism as for his successful singing and acting career.

Belafonte, who received the Sit-In Movement's annual Civil and Human Rights Award, said people need to keep alive the spirit of the sit-ins to help the nation's first African American president act to improve the lives of disadvantaged people nationwide.

"We cannot lay back," Belafonte said.

"Now is the time to exert ourselves more vigorously than we have in the last quarter-century."

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or taft.wireback@news-record.com