In 1993, Guilford County Commissioner Melvin “Skip” Alston and Greensboro City Councilman Earl F. Jones founded Sit-In Movement, Inc. as a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization to raise funds to purchase the Woolworth’s building to renovate and convert the building into a museum to honor the event of February 1, 1960. In 2001, Sit-In Movement, Inc. formed a partnership with North Carolina A&T State University to accelerate the development of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. NC A&T University’s Chancellor James C. Renick, Ph.D. and Obrie Smith, President of the NC A&T University Foundation, Inc. joined the organization’s board of directors. NC A&T University’s Vice Chancellor David Hoard was named Chief Executive Officer. An annual International Civil Rights Museum banquet assists the organization in raising millions to support the construction, exhibit design and fabrication, and artifact acquisition phases of the project. ICRCM banquet honorees have included Rosa Parks, South African President Nelson Mandela, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., the Martin Luther King Family, Dr. Maya Angelou, U.S. Congressman John Lewis, Vernon Jordan, Julius Chambers, Dr. John Hope Franklin, Justine Robert L. Carter, and U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters.