Sit-in anniversary events

• Ed Gordon will host a town-hall forum, “21st Century Activism and Protest: The State of the Civil Rights Movement” at the NC A&T State Alumni Event Center, located at 200 N. Benbow Road, at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Panelists include the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Stephan A. Smith and Warren A. Ballentine. The forum will be divided into two segments: “Sit-Ins, Marches and Boycotts: A Retrospective” and “Jena 6, Racial Profiling and Predatory Lending: Emerging Leaders and Contemporary Civil Rights Issues.”

• A “Sit-In Movement Luncheon” takes place at Stallings Ballroom in the NC A&T University Memorial Student Union, at noon on Friday.

• The Emmett Till Story, a play written, produced and directed by student Kevin Wilson, will be presented at Harrison Auditorium on the campus of NC A&T University at 7 p.m. on Friday.

• Nido Qubein, president of High Point University, presides over the 50th Anniversary Gala & Banquet, themed “Standing For a World of Change,” at the Koury Convention Center at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The benefit will honor NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner. Admission is $100.

• NC A&T University’s Acceptance Without Exception Gay-Straight Alliance holds screening of the film Brother Outsider, which tells the story of an LGBT activist who fought alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King for civil rights, in the auditorium of Proctor Hall at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31.

• An ecumenical service will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31 featuring Grammy-award winning contemporary gospel singer Yolanda Adams, motivational speaker Jamal Harrison-Bryant and the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles. Admission is free and open to the public.

• A “Sit-In Breakfast and Sit-In Program and Human Rights Medal Award” program will be held at the Empire Ballroom, located at 203 S. Elm St., at 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 1.

• A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum at 8 a.m. on Feb. 1. Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and Jibreel Khazan, the surviving members of the Greensboro Four; museum cofounders Skip Alston and Earl Jones; Gov. Beverly Perdue; and US Sen. Kay Hagan will be on hand for the event.

• A laying of the wreath ceremony will occur at Aggie Village on the campus of NC A&T University at 11 a.m. on Feb. 1.

• A commemorative student march departs from the February One monument on the campus of NC A&T University at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 1.

• A People’s Town Hall Meeting will be held at the Greensboro Historical Museum, located at 130 Summit Ave., at 7 p.m. on Feb. 2. The event — billed under the theme, “The Spirit of the 1960s Sit-In Movement Lives!” — is sponsored by the Beloved Community Center, the Greensboro Historical Museum and the Greensboro Public Library.