Every year on Feb. 1, N.C. A&T pays homage to its past.

Through a series of events, those four brave freshmen who risked it

all to stand up, or in this case sit down, in the face of injustice

are honored.

Every year on Feb. 1, N.C. A&T pays homage to its past. Through a series of events, those four brave freshmen who risked it all to stand up, or in this case sit down, in the face of injustice are honored.

The A&T Four are arguably the school’s most celebrated alumni and the legacy of starting the sit-in movement is the universities crown jewel. Feb. 1, 1960 was 52 years ago.

Since then, thousands of Aggies have enrolled and graduated, yet none have done anything notable enough to garner a larger celebration.

Some would argue that A&T rests on its past too much. So on this Feb. 1, lets take a look into the present and highlight four A&T men who are continuing in the legacy that the A&T Four set forth: Mitchell Brown, Michael Griffen, Christian Robinson, and Branden Brockington.

Each of these young men are determined to change the world in some way or another, but before they conquer planet Earth they’ve started right here in Aggieland. There’s Griffen, an economics major from High Point, who currently serves as the SGA chief of staff.

His resume runs a mile long, chock full of everything from Managing Leadership For Tomorrow to honor societies and scholars, to conducting research on disproportioned minority contacts in Guilford County. A&T can thank its alumni for bringing him here, “I had a lot of people who advocated for me to come to A&T. They knew I would do well here,” he said. “I knew a lot of alums that were heavy hitters and I knew it would allow me to become a part of the legacy of the university.”

Mitchell Brown also knew he would find his way into the legacy of the university. “A&T wasn’t my first choice; I’m not going to lie. I wanted to be a Morehouse man. But when I was 11, I sat my parents down and told them I would work hard in school to make sure they didn’t have to pay a dime for my college education. A&T offered me the most money.” Brown was part of the first class of Dowdy Scholars at A&T that granted him a full four year scholarship. It’s safe to say A&T made a good investment because Brown has been active from year one. He’s been apart of SGA for four years – two years of senate, last year as SGA parliamentarian, and currently he serves as vice-president of internal affairs. “I knew I would make SGA my four year internship in politics early on, because that is truly what it is,” he said.

Brown is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Faternity, Inc., an on campus provost scholars program, and Common Cause at A&T, to name a few. “I was meant to come here to help people. Not in a sympathetic way, but just to be a legacy of excellence on this campus – a model of success.”

SGA President Christian Robinson is no different when it comes to having an outstanding amount of accolades under his belt. He too has been on SGA for all four years of his college career. He’s been an OSL, a Thurgood Marshall campus ambassador, and much more. He is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Interestingly enough A&T not his first choice but and was in actuality his last. “My brother went here and so did some family, so they made me apply. A&T ended up giving me the most money. I visited it during my Spring break, loved it and decided to come,” he said.

Branden Brockington is a slightly different type of revolutionary. The Baltimore native took a year off after high school because he felt it was his responsibility to stay and protect his family. “When my mom got married the next year I felt it was ok for me to leave. A&T was actually the only school I applied to that year. I had come for a college tour and felt something, I later learned it was Aggie Pride.” Brockington’s campus affiliations is not extensive, in fact it begins and ends at Couture Word, but that has not made his impact on campus any less impressive. “Unlike the other guys I’m not really apart of a lot of organizations. I’ve just performed for them all versus being in them. They all have me do it because of my voice and I’m honored by that,” he said. He has performed countless times at a wide variety of events and each time he wins the crowd over. “Freshman year I would just freestyle at parties and Brian Fingers kind of unofficially recruited me to Couture after hearing me. I went to a spoken word performance to check it out and I was blown away. During my audition for Couture I rocked the whole room and I loved the feeling it gave me. It was a passion I never knew I had until this moment.”

All four of these young men admire and respect what the A&T four did 52 years ago. What stands out most to Brown is how they overcame their fears to fight for something that was bigger than them. “I’ve heard it from their own mouths how scared they were, but they still stood up for what they believed in,” he said. “I recently heard an acronym for fear: False Evidence that Appears Real. People were telling them they couldn’t do it but they saw that as false evidence and went ahead and did it.”

Griffen sees Feb 1. as a reminder that even as a student, you can take the first step to changing problems in society. Robinson feels that A&T is lucky not only to stand on the shoulders of giants but that some of those giants are still alive for students to get wisdom from. Brockington is able to see a little bit of himself in each of them, “Richmond was known for his civic involvement and that’s something I find very important. McCain was kind of a workhorse, as am I. McNair was from out of state like me, and Blair was spiritual like me.”

Although they respect the history of Feb. 1 they all can agree with the stigma that A&T sort of rides the coattails of the A&T Four versus continuing to make history today. “What have we really done in the past 10 years that is as significant? That’s not what they [the A&T four] stood for,” said Robinson.

“We’re honestly not speaking up when it comes [to] activism and that scares me. We have to move from Feb. 1 to Feb. 2,” agrees Brown. “I don’t know if its because we haven’t found our issue yet that makes us want to rally around it, but there’s plenty to choose from.”

Like what you may ask? All four of them believe continuing and maintaining the work of those before us is our generations main mission. Financial literacy and continuous university budget cuts were also added to the list.

Despite their disappointment in the lack of significant activism on campus they do recall certain moments at A&T that have made them proud such as Join Me at the Polls and A&T’s role in the election of President Obama.

“In 2008, Greensboro had the highest youth vote turnout in the nation. A&T had [thousands of ] people vote on this campus. Whatever that charm – that magic that was surrounded President Obama’s election we need to get that back,” said Brown.

“A&T has done a lot of marches, but to me it’s about attribution, how much of an impact the action performed actually had,” said Griffen. “Ignite Greensboro has really done a great job with that through services such as going neighborhoods and exchanging their light bulbs for energy efficient florescent compact light bulbs. Doing that actually saved people on their electric bill.”

If one thing was clear after these interviews, it was that these four young men are definitely setting themselves up to make major impacts on the world; A&T was just the first step them. So what’s next for seniors Griffen, Brown, and Robinson? Griffen already has a job waiting for him at Google. He is also starting a non-profit organization geared toward closing the achievement gap for African-American students. “We’ll start when they are in elementary school and through mentorship and programs we’ll help them transition to high school, college, and even into the professional world,” explained Griffen. Then there’s Brown, who wants to make his mark through law and politics. “I eventually want to run for office, I’d start of local and maybe go into a state office,” he said. He is also considering Teach For America after a recent trip to New Orleans. Robinson plans on continuing to develop as a leader. “Law school is in the future for me and I’m taking the proper steps to be there,” he said. The current SGA president wants to be remembered at A&T as a servant leader.

One who stood up for truth and always tried to do what was right. Don’t think because Brockington is only a junior that he is just letting time pass; he recently started his own organization called “The Grand Trilogy.” It’s made up of spoken word artists, musicians, and actors. They perform showcases and short skits. “I always make sure there is a message, something to be learned. It’s not just a bunch of cute words. Our work caters to human nature and global awareness.”

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• Sylvia Obell, Managing Editor