Guest Speaker: Mr. Clarence Henderson, NC Civil Rights Icon

The Ciceronian Society is pleased to present NC civil rights icon Mr. Clarence Henderson as our first invitational speaker this Fall! In 1960, on the second day of the Greensboro sit-in, Joseph A. McNeil and Franklin E. McCain were joined by William Smith and Clarence Henderson at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Clarence Henderson was in the forefront of the civil rights battle as he bravely stepped up to participate in the sit-in at the Woolworth’s diner.

In 2000, Mr. Henderson was the recipient of the 40th Anniversary Sit-In Participant Award and in 2013 he was appointed by Governor Pat McCrory, to the Chairman seat on the North Carolina Martin Luther King Jr. Commission. In addition, Governor McCrory conferred in 2016 The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award to ​Mr. Henderson with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary. Mr. Henderson was appointed President of the Frederick Douglass Foundation for the State of North Carolina in May 2017 of which he currently serves.

Mr. Henderson’s energetic involvement in his church as Head Elder, New Members Coordinator, Sunday school teacher, and Finance committee member; and his life’s journey as a teacher, college administrator, entrepreneur and motivational speaker has given him a unique perspective on what confronts society today.

While his life is chronicled with episodes of civil unrest in which he found himself thrust in the midst, he did his part to bring awareness and change in a peaceful manner. Clarence now champions a new cause for a better America by challenging, motivating and inspiring others to be aware and responsible for the world that surrounds them.