Civil Rights Greensboro
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- Deloris Gilchrist
- This photograph of Deloris Gilchrist appeared in Greensboro College's 1976 yearbook, The Echo. Gilchrist became Greensboro College's first African American Homecoming Queen in 1976.
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- Desegregation, Greensboro Public Schools, Greensboro, NC
- This circa 1958 speech by Greensboro City Schools Superintendent Benjamin L. Smith details school desegregation in Greensboro, North Carolina. Smith writes about the initial changes the Greensboro school board made to their policies following Brown v. Board of Education, including holding joint meetings with African American school administrators and listing schools alphabetically rather than by race. He explains the research and discussions that went into learning about desegregation, and details events in Greensboro that fostered better race relations, including allowing Dudley High School students to use the Greensboro Senior High gymnasium. He goes on to discuss the enrollment of six African American students at two previously all-white schools in 1957, and recalls incidents of protest and violence during the school year. Smith concludes the essay with reasons he feels Greensboro was able to desegregate schools.
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- Dick Gregory
- This October 9, 1970 article published in the Guilford College student newspaper, The Guilfordian, reports on a talk by black comedian and activist, Dick Gregory, who recently visited the campus. Gregory's talk focused on the critical state of repression in America, citing incidents such as the killing of student protesters at Kent State University (Ohio) and Jackson State University (Mississippi), and the subsequent need for revolution.
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- Dick Gregory at A&T
- This February 7, 1969 article published in the Guilford College student newspaper, The Guilfordian, announces an upcoming visit of comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory to nearby North Carolina A&T State University. The article also mentions a possible speaker ban considered by the Greensboro City Council after a visit to the A&T campus by Black Power leader Stokley Carmichael. While such a ban had been considered by the state government, it had already been deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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- District Attorney Schlosser comes to rescue of Klan/Nazi murderers
- This March 27, 1980 press release, issued by the Communist Workers Party (CWP), criticizes Greensboro District attorney Mike Schlosser's handling of the murder trial of Ku Klux Klan and Nazi party members accused in the November 3, 1979, Death to the Klan march that resulted in the death of five CWP protestors (also known as the Greensboro Massacre). The CWP accuses prosecutors of blaming the victims equally to the perpetrators, and states that Schlosser and prosecutors in several other cities are part of a plan to discourage resistance to the Klan and promote fascism in America.
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- Do the right thing
- This article by Franklin McCain, one of the four original participants in the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins, appeared in the August 26, 1990, Greensboro News & Record, and focuses discriminatory practices within private clubs in the south. McCain cites a recent controversy involving an Alabama country club, and notes that discriminatory admission practices serve as a barrier to full participation by blacks and civic and business life, since so many aspects center on these clubs. He argues that "change must come" possibly through business boycotts and other activities. This article was clipped and saved in a scrapbook on race relations by Clarence "Curly" Harris, manager of the Greensboro Woolworth store at the time of the 1960 sit-ins.
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- Don't Buy: Have A Saving Christmas
- This flier promotes a boycott of white-owned businesses by the black community in Greensboro. African Americans are encourage to patronize black-owned businesses whenever possible. The boycott was triggered by the workers strike at Industries of the Blind, which involved primarily black workers. The flier also notes that such a boycott will also make white leadership responsive to the needs of the black community. The flier includes a list of tips for supporting the boycott along with the phrase "Black People - Black Pride - Black Success!!" This flier was saved in a scrapbook by Clarence "Curly" Harris, manager of the Greensboro Woolworth store at the time of the 1960 sit-ins that spawned lunch counter sit-ins across the South and rejuvenated the civil rights movement.
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- Dr. Stevenson Speaks On Revolution in Black Community
- This May 8, 1970, article from The Carolinian, the student newspaper of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) discusses an appearance by Dr. John Marshall Stevenson (now Kilimanjaro) before a political science class at UNCG. Stevenson, a professor at North Carolina A&T State University and founder of the Carolina Peacemaker newspaper, spoke on the status of the revolutionary movement within the black community. Stevenson stated that the term "Negro" was holding back the black sense of identity, discussed the effects of slavery and drugs on the community, and complained about those who say that equal rights will "take time."
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- Draft news article by Harry G. Boyte
- This June 7, 1963 draft of an article was written by Harry G. Boyte for the North American Newspaper Alliance, and concerns recent civil rights demonstrations in Greensboro. Boyte begins the article by detailing recent racial violence in Lexington, North Carolina. He then discusses Greensboro Mayor David Schenck's decision to support the desegregation of business facilities, in response to mass protests in the city. He writes of mass arrests, including his own and Jesse Jackson's, that followed an earlier demonstration in Greensboro, and concludes by detailing police abuse during the arrests and at the jail.
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- Draft of speech on the food service workers' strike, presented by Chancellor Ferguson at a student convocation
- This eight page (four two-sided) handwritten document is a draft of a speech presented by University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) Chancellor James Sharbrough Ferguson at a student convocation held April 1, 1969. The speech concerns the food service workers' strike, which took place March 27 - April 1, 1969, and gives Ferguson's impression of the current status of the conflict. There is a brief discussion of the contract with ARA Slater, of student support for the strike, and of the continuing negotiations. Ferguson also restates his intention to follow applicable law with respect to disturbances related to the strike.
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- Drifters Smashing Success
- This April 17, 1964 article published in the Guilford College student newspaper, The Guilfordian, celebrates the success of the Saturday night performance by the popular group The Drifters and describes the event as one which, "thrilled our normally apathetic student body." Students from many other areas colleges also attended the event, making for a crowd of about five hundred people.
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- EDITORIAL
- This February 13, 1970, editorial from The Carolinian, the student newspaper of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), comments on the possibility of a forthcoming statewide desegregation order covering the university system from the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). The editorial suggests that UNCG students have not done enough to foster integration and racial cooperation. HEW had requested a report within sixty days on actions that would promote desegregation and minority faculty recruitment. HEW suggested that the university system should add equal opportunity statements to all publications, review its recruitment program, cooperate with black schools, increase faculty recruitment efforts, and work with "high risk" populations.
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- Editorial
- This March 28, 1969, editorial from The Carolinian, the student newspaper of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), discusses the UNCG food service workers' strike of March 27-April 2, 1967, and calls on food service contractor ARA Slater to agree that activist employees would not be terminated. There had been some suggestion that agreeing to this one demand could have avoided the walkout. Some twenty-five largely minority workers went on strike based on specific complaints related to pay rates, working hours, overtime provisions, wage reviews, breaks, severance requirements, and dismissal requirements, and there was also a student boycott of the cafeteria. The strike was resolved with some concessions, and ARA Slater retained its contract with UNCG.
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- Editorial
- This March 29, 1969, editorial from The Carolinian, the student newspaper of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), comments on the UNCG food service workers' strike of March 27-April 2, 1967. The editorial questions how long the strike will continue, notes the involvement of UNCG students, urges that order be maintained and that the rights of of players be preserved, and suggests that financial support for striking workers is a student responsibility. Some twenty-five largely minority workers walked out based on specific complaints related to pay rates, working hours, overtime provisions, wage reviews, breaks, severance requirements, and dismissal requirements, and there was also a student boycott of the cafeteria. The strike was resolved with some concessions, and food service contractor ARA Slater retained its contract with UNCG.
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- Editorial from "The Tad"
- This editorial, written by the staff of the Guilford College Literary Society and published in their periodical, The Tad, in the Spring of 1959 questioned the policies of the College with respect to the issue of integration. These students offered multiple examples of points when the issue of integration had been broached in the past and had eventually been swept under the rug. In this piece the staff of The Tad, while recognizing that they did not speak for the whole campus community, made the statement that for Guilford College to maintain its reputation as a "liberal-minded Christian college, we must take a definite, clear stand in favor of accepting any qualified student ... regardless of his or her race, creed, of religion." Guilford College did not adopt a policy of complete integration until 1962. Also included are the cover and table of content.
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- Education in action
- These two editorials, published in the November 7, 1967, Greensboro Daily News, discuss the controversial Black Power Forum held November 1-3, 1967, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). One is a reprint of an editorial published earlier in the Raleigh News & Obersver, stating that UNCG had permitted itself to be "used" by activists with an agenda. The other is a Daily News editorial refuting the position expressed in the News & Observer editorial and stating that UNCG was right not to ban speakers at the forum.
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- Edward Kidder Graham
- This is a photographic portrait of Edward Kidder Graham, chancellor of The Woman's College of The University of North Carolina (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) from 1950 to 1956. Graham presided over early desegregation issues at the college, and left for a post at Boston University a few months before the first black students were admitted to Woman's College.
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- Elam Discusses Racism
- This October 24, 1969 article published in the Guilford College student newspaper, The Guilfordian, reports on a campus leadership seminar featuring Greensboro mayor Jack Elam, who spoke frankly on various aspects of race relations in Greensboro including business integration, urban renewal, and city council politics. Elam also reflects on the protests at North Carolina A & T University earlier in the year and admits his calling in the National Guard was a mistake.
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- Endorsers of call for special prosecutor in Greensboro case
- This list identifies those endorsing a petition calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor in the federal grand jury investigation into the murder of five Communist Workers Party members at the Death to the Klan march in Greensboro, North Carolina, on November 3, 1979. Although those accused of the murders had been acquitted by the North Carolina court system, the case was appealed to the federal courts. During the federal hearing information came to light about the involvement of FBI agents, triggering a conflict of interest within the Justice Department, and thus the request for an outside prosecutor. The list identifies endorsers at the local, state, and national levels and includes individuals representing various religious, community, and legal organizations.
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- Equality of admissions favored in 24-0 vote
- This December 8, 1955, article by Martha Jester of the Greensboro Record, reports that the Student Legislature of the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (WCUNC) passed a resolution the night before "favoring equality of admissions policies and use of facilities to all students, regardless of race." The resolution was to be sent to the WCUNC administration and trustees as well as to university faculty and the North Carolina General Assembly.
