Maj. Gen. Joseph McNeil inspired well over 100 members of the St. John’s community at a Founder’s Week presentation held on Tuesday, January 27, at the Kelleher Center, Staten Island campus. After showing a short video describing his historic 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro, NC “whites only” lunch counter, Maj. Gen. McNeil engaged the audience with an inspirational retelling of the factors that motivated him and his classmates to peacefully defy racial segregation. Maj. Gen. McNeil honored those who came before him in the civil rights movement and praised his faith and family for giving him the strength to persevere despite violent antagonism and eventual imprisonment. The audience was enthralled by the strength of Maj. Gen. McNeil’s gentle humility. When asked about the changes he underwent as a result of his civil disobedience, he referred to the 2009 Founder’s Week theme, Vincentian Transformation: Changing Hearts, Creating Peace, “I guess we were Vincentian without even knowing it,” he said.