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GREENSBORO — When Dr. George Simkins asked the courts to integrate Moses Cone Hospital, leading to other federally funded hospitals having to do the same, it helped hone the NAACP’s legacy of dismantling segregation.

Simkins was the president of the Greensboro chapter of the civil rights group.

The five black children who sued Greensboro City Schools for admission to an all-white elementary school — among the first students in the South to successfully do so — were represented by Greensboro attorney Kenneth Lee, a state counsel of the NAACP.

The historic downtown Woolworth’s sit-ins gave the civil rights movement what the Rev. Martin Luther King called a second wind, because the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People provided protesters free representation.

As the venerable civil rights group turns 100 this year, some of its most celebrated moments can be traced back to activism in Greensboro.

History shows, for example, that NAACP chief legal counsel Thurgood Marshall argued for attorney Lee’s admittance to UNC’s law school, which eventually led to the integration of North Carolina’s public colleges and helped pave the way for Marshall to become the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice.

“Greensboro has been an epicenter of the civil rights movement — and the NAACP has been there,” said the Rev. Cardes Brown, the president of the Greensboro chapter.

Later this week, UNCG’s 20th Annual Conference on African American Culture and Experience, influenced by the NAACP milestone, will explore 100 years of black activism.

The two-day event will include activists; the student presidents of NAACP chapters at UNCG and N.C. A&T, among others; and a panel of scholars, including professors from UNCG, Elon and A&T, who will discuss how the movement has worked and where it should go from here.

Black activism in Greensboro came in the form of people like businesswoman Gladys Shipman, the first female president of the local NAACP. She recalls as a young girl being escorted to the balcony of the downtown movie theater because only white people could sit downstairs.

“It was the only thing we had to turn to to seek justice,” Shipman said of the NAACP’s involvement with the young people who brokered the agreement that changed policies.

In Greensboro, as in most places, it was the black church that provided the financial support to break down barriers, with its clergy providing a voice.

The current presidents of both the North Carolina and Greensboro NAACP offices are clergy.

“It’s not unusual to find that connection still taking place,” said Tara T. Green, an associate professor and director of UNCG’s African American Studies Program, which is hosting the conference.

St. James Baptist pastor Prince Graves served on the Greensboro City Council.

“The clergy were employed by African Americans in their congregations, and they could be bold,” said Melvin “Skip” Alston, a Guilford County commissioner and past state NAACP president.

At times, people from all areas of community identified with the civil rights group.

Former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin, who is white, remembers how Simkins, a well-to-do dentist who spearheaded a political action committee to put black candidates into office, was arrested for demanding to use a city-owned public golf course. He was president of the NAACP from 1959 to 1984.

“I would rate George Simkins to be our Martin Luther King — even though we opposed each other a lot, we were great friends and respected each other,” Melvin said.

“Prince Graves was a pioneer. (Former NAACP president and banker) B.J. Battle was a hard worker. (Church pastor) Otis Hairston was soft spoken but tough as nails. I think the overriding characteristic was character and focus on their purpose. They knew what was right.”

As the examination of black activism takes center stage at UNCG, Cardes Brown says the vision is to keep up with diverse new challenges while not losing sight of those that linger from the past.

“It’s still a struggle for the voiceless, the left out and the looked over,” Brown said.

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com