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GREENSBORO — The air was cold, but the atmosphere was warm and inviting.

For a few hours Monday morning, the events surrounding the opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum brought together the Greensboro community.

There were moments of humor, such as when the Rev. Jesse Jackson entertained the sit-in breakfast crowd by standing up and giving the “lightning bolt” hand signal for his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi.

There were moments of graciousness, when Mayor Bill Knight asked former mayors Yvonne Johnson and Keith Holliday to join him in cutting the ribbon for the museum.

And there were moments of poign­ancy. “This moment is bittersweet for me because I really wanted my father to be here,” David “Chip” Richmond Jr. said of his late father during the breakfast.

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Tibias Thorne was headed to N.C. State on a full scholarship when he visited N.C. A&T with a group of friends who were planning to enroll there.

The more Thorne learned about the university, the more intrigued he became. Standing at the statue of the Greensboro Four on the A&T campus, Thorne made his decision.

“I just knew I had to be there,” Thorne said.

On Monday morning, Thorne stood in front of another piece of history: the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. He and a large group of former A&T student government officers posed for pictures shortly after the ribbon-cutting. They had traveled from all around the country, he said.

As for Thorne, he has made his home in Greensboro where, after four years of volunteering at the museum, he was hired as a special assistant for events and membership.
 

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For Juanita McClain, witnessing the opening of the museum Monday was like coming full circle.

“I was at the March on Washington, and I thank God for allowing me to be here at Woolworth,” said McClain, who traveled from Sedalia for the event.

After the ribbon-cutting, Robin Hill snapped a photo of McClain with the museum as the backdrop. Hill took McClain’s address and promised to mail her a copy. McClain plans to pass the photo along to her grandchildren, along with mementos from another time.

“I’ll tell them, 'This is history,’ ” she said.
 

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Robin Hill brought with her a photograph that symbolized her entire reason for being at the museum opening: one of her 4-year-old granddaughter. She believes the museum will play an important part in teaching her granddaughter what it means to be a leader.

Hill, a senior account manager with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, has been volunteering with the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. But despite her work in helping to get it open, Hill didn’t try to tour it Monday.

“I want to have my alone time when I go through there,” she said.
 

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Along with the chants of “Aggie Pride” were some quieter exclamations.

“We can’t wait. We can’t wait.”

Area pastors Cardes Brown, Gregory Headen, Nelson Johnson and Joseph Frierson distributed literature that detailed their concerns with several issues, including the police department’s handling of the Officer A. J. Blake case, allegations of racial discrimination within the department and what the pastors say is bad publicity about the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation.

Frierson said the pastors support the museum but didn’t want the celebration to disguise issues that they say continue to plague the police department and the city.
 

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Lorraine Stanback and her second cousin, Mia Ingram, came from New Jersey for Monday’s celebration. They arrived Thursday after driving 563 miles for nearly nine hours and spending $24.50.

All to get to their hometown and the sit-in celebrations.

And Monday, Stanback spent $9.75 at a Family Dollar on High Point Road, created four small signs and strung them across her shoulders like a sandwich board and marched from A&T toward downtown.

The neon green sign across her chest read “The Will To Sit Down 4 Equality,’’  and the orange sign across her back read “Thank You Four Your Sacrifice.’’

She was interviewed 13 times.
 

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UNCG canceled its march from campus. But Laura Brown came anyway.

She took her younger sister, Glynnis, and walked down Market Street toward downtown Greensboro, carrying face- fans of four students at Woman’s College, now UNCG, who participated in the sit-ins 50 years ago.

She felt she needed to. Since fall 2008, the 20-year-old senior from Newbury Park, Calif., has unearthed newspaper articles, speech transcripts and handwritten notes about the social activism at her school.

Brown, an English major, is fascinated by what she has found. So Monday, she marched while carrying the face-fans of Ann Bearsley, Claudette Graves, Marilyn Lott and Eugenia Seaman.

“The people before us had to be brave and take a stand, and because of them, we were all able to stand like we did today,” Brown said. “We can never take that for granted. What we have came at a cost.’’
 

Compiled by staff writers Jonnelle Davis and Jeri Rowe