Morning, gang.
It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day and we hope you’ll spend some time today remembering Dr. King, considering his work and doing something to bring us all closer to achieving his dream.
As divided America is today, it is still shocking to recall just how long and hard the fight was to get a national holiday honoring King. North Carolina’s own Sen. Jesse Helms attempted to dismiss the legislation in the U.S. Senate. When President Ronald Reagan signed the bill creating a national holiday in 1983, he did so reluctantly.
In today’s newsletter, we are bringing you some stories on Civil Rights landmarks and icons right here in Greensboro. These include:
*A remembrance of Yvonne Johnson, who as a Bennett College undergraduate took part in the sit-in movement to desegregate downtown’s Woolworth’s lunch counter before becoming Greensboro first Black mayor.
*An examination of the life of the Rev. Nelson Johnson, who dedicated his life to civil rights work and whose Beloved Community Center was named in honor of King’s vision.
* A look at author Aran Shetterly’s recent book Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City’s Soul, published 45 years after the tragedy.
* A story on the Historic Magnolia House, one of the few places Black travelers could rest under Jim Crow-era segregation.
We’re taking the late Congressman John Lewis’ advice, treating today’s holiday as a day on rather than a day off. We’ll see you with more stories later this week.
— Joe Killian
A Community Remembers Yvonne Johnson, ‘The Conscience of the City’
Greensboro’s first Black mayor fought segregation and built community in the city she loved.
Rev. Nelson Johnson: A Legacy Beyond Tragedy
Once called “the most dangerous man in Greensboro,” Nelson Johnson survived the Greensboro Massacre and inspired generations.
Revisiting the Greensboro Massacre 45 Years Later
“The relevance is not just timely but timeless,” says the author of a new book about the Greensboro Massacre.
More Than History
At 76 years old, the Historic Magnolia House preserves its past while looking to the future
Thanks for reading The Thread, a 3x week newsletter written by Greensboro editor Joe Killian and reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Reach us with tips or ideas at greensboro@theassemblync.com.
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What’s The Plan?
During the evening rush hour, the J. Douglas Galyon Depot bus hub, centrally located in downtown Greensboro, is abuzz with life and riders’ chatter. The trains screech, the buses grumble.
Energy. Excitement. Going home.
For riders like Jonathan Addai, taking the bus is his only option since his car broke down.
“Day in and day out,” he says.
The Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) operates 16 bus routes and a downtown trolley and gave 2.56 million rides in 2024.
Greensboro’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is now finalizing its metropolitan transportation plan (2050 MTP), which outlines how the city’s dollars will be spent on transportation projects through 2050, with strategies for highways, railways, public transit, intermodal connections, aviation, and travel for bicyclists and pedestrians.
City leaders want to make Greensboro car-optional by 2045. The recently adopted GoBORO plan aims to optimize routes and cut wait times, allowing residents to connect to “key destinations” using public transit. GoBORO would extend service hours, decrease wait times, and optimize and add routes to create high-frequency corridors, making 43 percent of jobs close to frequent bus service, city planners say.
At a January 14 public information meeting, Lydia McIntyre, the city’s engineering supervisor for transportation planning, explained how the transportation systems are connected
“If you’re going to implement a high-frequency corridor,” McIntyre said, “You have to think about the sidewalks, the crosswalks leading to [them], the amenities.”
“Even residents who never ride a bus benefit from transit,” said Tyler Meyer, the city’s transportation planning division manager, “Because it helps connect people to jobs, education, and services, supports access for people who cannot or choose not to drive, and allows key parts of the local workforce to reach employment reliably.”
“By moving more people in fewer vehicles, transit can also reduce pressure on streets and parking infrastructure, benefiting the transportation system as a whole,” Meyer said. “Like streets, sidewalks, and traffic signals, transit is funded as part of a balanced transportation system, even though no single component is used by everyone.”
And according to the 2050 MTP, GoBORO could be realized even sooner with a half-cent sales tax, which would need voter approval.
Buses currently run from 5 a.m.-11:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 6 a.m.-10 p.m. on weekends. During the day, many routes run every 30 minutes. After 6 p.m., riders must wait an hour for the next bus. The plan would extend that to 10 p.m. Also, all weekend service would go until 1 a.m. With the tax, evening and weekend service could be extended within the next two years. Without it, it’ll take eight.
“The GoBORO transit network could still potentially be implemented using existing federal, state, and local funding,” Meyer said, “but only incrementally and over a much longer timeframe, with improvements occurring in phases as resources allow.”
North Carolina law provides counties a path to pursue a dedicated sales tax to support public transportation, and the plan outlines the process for doing so, including coordination among local governments and approval by voters through a referendum.
“If Guilford County, its local governments, and voters were to choose to follow that process in the future, the MTP shows that the GoBORO network could be implemented on an accelerated timeline—on the order of five to ten years—rather than over several decades,” Meyer said.
The city is looking for feedback on the 2050 MTP. So far, the survey has received eight responses. Make your voice heard here through January 19.
— Gale Melcher