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Gov. Mike Easley, the House and Senate are all honoring those students from Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Charlotte who integrated North Carolina's school more than 50 years ago, as well as the superintendents who made it happen. The date was Sept. 4, 1957.

First up was Easley, who hosted the group at the executive mansion this afternoon. I wasn't standing close enough to get really stellar audio, but you can hear some of his comments by clicking here. (You can click here to read Easley's proclamation.)

"It was 50 years ago that each of you together opened the schoolhouse doors to African Americans," Easley said.

Among those on hand were Josephine Boyd Bradley, who joined Greensboro Senior High School in 12th grade. I asked her what those first days were like.

"It was frightening," she said. "I didn't know what to expect."

She said that by the last two or three months of the school year, much of the commotion around her presence in the school had died down.

"As graduation got closer, things kicked back up again," she said.

On hand to witness Easley's proclamation was Fayelene Thompson, Bradley's niece, who grew up in Greensboro. I asked her if she knew about her aunt's place in history growing up.

'"Not early on," she said. "But as I got older I did."

When she was in high school, Thompson said, she wrote a poem dedicated to her aunt titled "Thank you."

Craig Phillips, who was superintendent of the Winston-Salem public schools at the time was also recognized for his role in devising a plan to integrate. Benjamin Smith, Greensboro's superintendent at the time, was recognized posthumously.

Phillips said that he greeted Gwendolyn Bailey Coleman that day with a handshake, some thing that he said he has been pondering the past 20 years.

"If instead of shaking your hand I gave you one big hug, we might have been a lot farther along," he said. So he proceeded to giver her that hug today.

As I load this, the state House is debating a resolution honoring those who made integration happen.