Greensboro Massacre Collection

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The collection includes newspaper clippings related to the Greensboro Massacre and other social justice causes, trial materials related to the Greensboro Massacre criminal and civil trials, materials from the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, publications from social justice organizations like the CWP, audiovisual materials, and materials from Jim Waller, and drafts of writings by Signe Waller Foxworth. Digitization of this collection will be complete by spring of 2024.

Details

Who's responsible?: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
How much has been digitized?: Digitization of this collection is still in progress.
Where can I find more information?: https://uncg.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/797
Historical note: The Greensboro Massacre occurred on November 3, 1979, at what was then the Morningside Homes community in Greensboro, North Carolina. At a previously planned march organized by members of the Communist Workers' Party (CWP) to support workers' rights, armed Klan and American Nazi Party members opened fire on the marchers. Five people were killed during the massacre - Cesar Cauce, James "Jim" Waller, William Evan Sampson, Sandra Neely Smith, and Michael Nathan. Several people were also injured. The aftermath of the Greensboro Massacre included a state criminal trial, a federal criminal trial, and a civil trial. During the trials, it was revealed that various levels of police had been involved in the Massacre, including Edward Dawson, a police informant, and Bernard Butkovich, an undercover agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. There was also a lack of Greensboro City police presence at the march. In 1999, the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed. The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission was an independent, democratically selected body seeking truth and healing transformation for the city by examining the events and issuing a final report. On October 6, 2020, the Greensboro City Council approved a resolution apologizing for the Greensboro Massacre.
Topics: North Carolina
African-American History
Business
Events
Civic Groups
Government
Subject headings: Massacres--North Carolina--Greensboro--History--20th century.
Waller, Signe, 1938-
Communist Workers Party (U.S.)
Ku Klux Klan (1915- )
Greensboro (N.C.) Race relations
Greensboro (N.C.) History
Contributing Institution: Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries

Pages

: All Africa is standing up! [1978-01]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical celebrating the success of Zimbabwe Liberation Day and anti-apartheid protests against South African airlines, alongside more general commentary on the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. There is also a celebration of a tenant protest in San Antonio and an anti police brutality march in Union New Jersey following a police killing, commentary on community response to a white mob attacking black students who were bussed to Boston, criticism of the Bakke decision, reflection on Palestine’s struggle for independence, and demonstrations by the Iranian Student Association against the Shah.

: All Africa is standing up! [1978-02]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical discussing various topics including women’s struggle against imperialism and capitalism, Palestinian independence, ongoing anti-apartheid protests, tenant's and miner’s struggle to unionize and oppose the Bourgeois, the life of Malcom X, A school board's handing of a racist school teacher, Soviet Social Imperialism, election issues in Namibia, Zimbabwe “internal settlement”, and the Wilmington 10.

: All Africa is standing up! [1978-05]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical including pictures of African Liberation Day and discussing various topics including university student involvement in African Liberation Day, marches to free the Wilmington 10, May Day and the struggle against Apartheid, the end of a mine worker’s strike, the United State’s Anglo-American plan for Zimbabwe, the proposed internal settlement of Zimbabwe, opposition to the Bakke decision, and Ethiopia’s history with socialism and fascism.

: All Africa is standing up! [1978-06]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical discussing various topics including the supreme court’s decision in the Bakke case, U.S. involvement in Zaire, the court case of 2 Guilford county sheriff’s deputies assault of Gernie Cummings, a black man, opposition to the Shah and U.S. support for his rule, Proposition 13 and its effects on workers in California, a call for the U.S. to end relationships with South Africa to protest apartheid, the role of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in the conflict in Eritrea, an interview with the treasurer of the South African Students Organization about, the fascist elements in Frank Rizzo’s politics, and protests following the death of a 55 year old black man at the hands of police in Crown Heights.

: All Africa is standing up! [1978-09]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical discussing various topics including police brutality protests in Mississippi, the revolution in Nicaragua, Frank Rizzo’s use of the police, a competency test that black student’s predominantly fail that denies those who failed a high school diploma, Steelworker union solidarity with South Africa, reflection on Mao’s political theory and application of Mao’s Mass line theory to ALSC organizing as part of the ALSC 6th annual conference, condemnation of the Shah, interview with a component of Zimbabwe’s Patriotic Front, martial law in South Africa, and a condemnation of the imperialist messages in disco music.

: All Africa is standing up! [1978-10]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical discussing various topics including the boycott of South Africa and South African resistance to apartheid, Camp David Accords, Frank Rizzo’s use of police brutality, the protest of the police killing of Winston Hood in Philadelphia and Arthur Miller in New York, the Shah, the Sandinistas, Mao’s theory of three worlds, opposition to “lynch justice”, anti-nuclear demonstrations, and black and latino students boycotting schools for excessive suspensions.

: All Africa is standing up! [1978-12]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical discussing topics including the boycott of South Africa, Political prisoners in the U.S., Jim Jones and the People’s Temple, the Zimbabwean war for independence, P.W. Botha’s plan for a settlement for South Africa, the revolution in Nicaragua, Arabic unity and Palestinian liberation, opposition to the Shah, prison protests in Texas, the Wilmington 10, police brutality protests in Tupelo Mississippi through an interview with Skip Robinson, the concept of “the good old days”, racism in education, the North Carolina Competency test which can deny graduates a high school diploma which blacks and latinos disproportionately fail and other inequalities in education. There is also a culture page with a short story.

: All Africa is standing up! [1979-04-01]; African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) periodical discussing topics including the boycott of South Africa, the nature of human rights and equal rights, the Steelworkers v Weber case, Franklin Thomas’ role in the Ford Foundation, protests against city worker layoffs in Newark, The implications of the Iranian revolution, the Patriotic Front in Zimbabwe, the opening of an ALSC chapter in Durham, Malcolm X’s thought, Nicaragua’s revolution, lynch justice, African Liberation Day, and the Soviet’s role in the conflict in Eritrea. There is also a culture page featuring a poem.

: American Indian Movement, 1973 - 1983, bulk: 1983 February-1983 March; A series of news clippings covering indigenous people’s struggle for rights, with a particular focus on the siege of Wounded Knee and how it was commemorated 10 years later. Includes clippings on the Dakota American Indian movement’s occupation of Black Hills National Forest, the extradition of activist Dennis Banks, a reflection on the siege of Wounded Knee by Adam Schesch and Signe Waller, Jim Waller’s diary from the siege of Wounded Knee, the platform of Russel Means, a candidate for president of Oglala Sioux tribe who recalled the history of his tribes struggle for fair treatment, and two articles, one in a periodical by the Communist Workers Party and one in the Guardian, covering the tenth anniversary of the Siege of Wounded Knee.

: An Administrative Report of the Anti-Klan Rally, Greensboro, North Carolina, November 3, 1979 (Greensboro Police Department) , 1979 November 19; The Greensboro Police Department’s administrative report on the anti-Klan rally that was turned into the Greensboro Massacre. Includes background information on the Workers Viewpoint Organization (which would later be known as the Communist Workers Party), police activity during the anti-Klan march, and the police chief's conclusion that the police did not do anything wrong during the Greensboro Massacre. Includes appendices with images of materials related to the anti-Klan march.

: Anne Braden: Southern Patriot, DVD, 2012; Due to potential copyright issues, this item is not available online. It currently may only be viewed in person in the archives. We hope to make it available at a later date if permission can be secured.

: Anti-Klan and Klan marches, Greensboro, 1987 May 29 - 1987 June 8; A collection of news clippings surrounding the first KKK march to come after Greensboro Massacre, with a variety of editorials about the attitudes towards the Klan in Greensboro, the organization of an anti-Klan march the day before the KKK was scheduled to march, the Klan march, and a peace festival that took place after the Klan left Greensboro.

: Anti-Klan play tackles an important subject and "Shooting victims ask for closure," Leslie Mizell and Tom Steadman in The Greensboro News and Record, 1999 November 4; News clippings about Marty Nathan, the widow of Mike Nathan who was slain in the Greensboro Massacre, calling for a reopening of investigations into the massacre to bring about reconciliation, and the production of “Greensboro: A Requiem”, a docudrama about the Greensboro massacre.

: Arguments and propsals for the PRSC conference; A set of documents prepared for submission to the Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee (PRSC) about what the goals of the Committee should be and how it should achieve them, including calls for aligning other U.S. minorities and white workers with the cause of Puerto Rican independence.

: Art projects, 1999; A series of printed emails concerning the creation of a woodcut commemorating the Greensboro Massacre by Leonard Baskin and Elin Slavick’s plans to make artwork to commemorate the Greensboro Massacre, along with a petition sign sheet and proposal for a November 3, 1979 memorial bus stop and Leonard Baskin’s woodcut.

: Articles and Correspondence, Mostly Truth and Reconciliation Commission-Related, 2004; Includes correspondence between the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Greensboro Human Relations Commission, correspondence between the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo interested in supporting a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in their country, media about the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, comparisons between the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and other Truth and Reconciliation commissions, as well as correspondences between those interested in the work of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and general information about the project of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

: Articles and Correspondence, Mostly Truth and Reconciliation Commission-Related, 2005; Includes media related to the Greensboro Massacre and the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, pamphlets by the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission about upholding the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Commission’s methods and goals, information on the Beloved Community Center and the Pulpit Forum, materials about the Christian concept of repentance, information on Signe Waller’s memoir “Love and Revolution”, and documents by survivors of the Greensboro Massacre about why it is an event that needs to be re-examined.

: Articles and Correspondence, Mostly Truth and Reconciliation Commission-Related, Folder 1, 2003; Includes information about the staff of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its mission, correspondences related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, planning notes for the commission, challenges to the legitimacy of commission, and media related to the commission. Also includes information on the 20th anniversary commemoration of the Greensboro Massacre.

: Articles and Correspondence, Mostly Truth and Reconciliation Commission-Related, Folder 2, 2003; Includes promotional material for the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, information about the Beloved Community Center’s position on and involvement with the commission, correspondences related to the commission, and information about the goals and methods of the commission.

: Asheville story, 1977 October - 1983 November, bulk: 1981 March - 1981 October; Newspaper clippings about events surrounding an alleged Nazi conspiracy to bomb Greensboro in the event that defendants in the Greensboro Massacre case were found guilty. The Communist Workers Party argues that this was a government attempt to safe face after the public backlash following the acquittal of the killers in the Greensboro Massacre, and the Nazi defendants argue that they were entrapped into the bombing because they were egged on by undercover government agents. There are two mistrials, and an exploration into the involvement of Bernard Butkovich, an undercover agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, who was also involved with the Greensboro Massacre.

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