Joseph McNeil

A Wilmington, N.C., native, Joseph McNeil graduated from Williston Senior High School. He earned a degree in engineering physics from North Carolina A & T State University in 1963 and his roommate in Scott Hall was another sit-in participant, Ezell Blair, Jr.

McNeil spent six years as a U.S. Air Force Officer and attained the rank of captain. He is now a major general in the Air Force Reserves. Following retirement from the armed services he worked in computer sales for IBM, as a commercial banker for Bankers Trust in New York City, and as a stockbroker for E.F. Hutton in Fayetteville, N.C. He now resides in Hempstead, N.Y. He is married to the former Ina Brown, and they have five children.

Source: International Civil Rights Center & Museum