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< Back Food Workers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ​ Photograph:Food Workers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill protest their working conditions and employment terms under SAGA Food Services. Fifty years ago, food services workers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill went on strike for better wages and working conditions. The Black Student Movement supported the strike, which put a spotlight on labor and racial inequities at the university. On Sunday, Feb. 23, 1969, food workers at Lenoir Dining Hall set up their dining stations as usual. But when their supervisor, Ottis White, opened the cafeteria doors around 4 p.m. and students began shuffling in, the workers left their positions behind the food stations and sat down at the cafeteria tables. The employees refused to move, even as students surrounded them, banging their trays on the counter and demanding to be served. The following morning, nearly 100 Lenoir employees refused to report to work, marking the beginning of UNC’s first major labor strike. “The strike was a result of UNC cafeteria workers not receiving adequate responses from the University administration to grievances that they had submitted previously,” UNC archivist Nicholas Graham said. Among these grievances were inadequate pay, innacurate job classifications and poor treatment by supervisors, all of which were highlighted by workers months before the strike began. n October 1968, dining hall employees sent a list of 21 suggestions to improve their work conditions in a memorandum addressed to the “Employers of Lenoir Dining Hall.” Their suggestions were ignored, and later that month, food service director George Prillaman laid off 10 employees after a major drought halted dishwashing operations. Following Prillaman’s actions, workers turned to students — specifically the newly formed Black Student Movement — for help. “One of the things that the Black Student Movement did early in their tenure was issue a series of demands to the University administration for better treatment for Black students on campus, more resources on campus, a number of different things in the interest of Black student life on campus,” Graham said. “Their demands also included support for African-American workers on campus and also community members.” In fall 1968, nearly 100 percent of UNC’s non-academic staff members were Black, while less than 1.5 percent of enrolled students were Black, according to UNC Libraries. Although desegregation was the official stance of the University, some believed that the treatment of Black students, staff and community members by UNC suggested otherwise. “Early on, very early on in its tenure, the student leaders in the Black Student Movement were engaged in advocating for African-American workers on campus,” Graham said. A core group of food workers, led by employees Mary Smith and Elizabeth Brooks, joined forces with BSM leader Preston Dobbins and planned the Feb. 23 demonstration. In the days following the demonstration, students stood outside Lenoir distributing pamphlets about the strike. Because it was unoccupied at the time, Manning Hall was transformed into a temporary dining hall called the Soul Food Cafeteria where strikers served meals to students boycotting Lenoir. In early March, after UNC Chancellor Carlyle Sitterson refused to meet with workers because of student involvement in the strike, protesters took a different approach. Strike-supporting students entered Lenoir and took their places in the serving lines among their classmates. They proceeded to purposefully slow down the service provided by the few remaining workers and took up entire tables with nothing in hand but a glass of water. On March 4, 1969, the strike gained the attention of North Carolina’s Gov. Robert Scott. “A scuffle broke out (in Lenoir) and many of the student protesters overturned tables,” Graham said. “This was portrayed by some media as a kind of a riot, or a more violent outburst. The reaction around the state was pretty angry from a lot of people.” In an attempt to keep Lenoir from closing, Scott sent five units of riot-trained Highway Patrol officers to the campus and announced that the National Guard was standing by in Durham. But rather than quell the situation, the Governor’s intervention prompted more students and faculty members to become active in the protest. Following Scott’s actions, the food workers formed the UNC Non-Academic Employees Union. The union’s requests included a $1.80 per hour minimum wage (approximately $12.47 in 2018), the appointment of a Black supervisor and adequate pay for overtime work. Scott agreed to the demand of a wage increase and the strike ended on March 21, 1969. “(The strike was) something that did not happen just out of the blue here at UNC,” North Carolina Collection gallery keeper Linda Jacobson said. “It was something that was going on across the South and it was part of a bigger movement by African-American workers across the South who were striking for better wages, and it was happening right in the midst of all that.” Although Scott agreed to provide higher wages and better working conditions for UNC’s non-academic employees, the food workers struggle for fair treatment did not end there. In May 1969, UNC ceased University-operated dining services and entered into a contract with a company called SAGA Food Services. On Nov. 7, after SAGA issued layoffs and some of the Governor’s promises for better working conditions were still unfulfilled, 250 of UNC’s 275 food workers declared a second strike. The second strike showed similar patterns as the first. It was centered on justice for Black non-academic employees and included significant involvement from students and faculty. UNC’s BSM told SAGA they planned to hold a protest in the Pit on Dec. 8 if working conditions were not improved. The second strike ended on Dec. 9, 1969 after an agreement was signed between SAGA and union representatives. In January 1970, SAGA announced they would not renew their dining contract with the University. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the strikes, University Libraries has curated a special exhibit titled “Service, Not Servitude: The 1969 Food Workers’ Strikes at UNC-Chapel Hill.” Located in Wilson Library, the exhibit is free and will be open to the public until May 31. On March 20, the PlayMakers Repertory Company will perform “Voices from the Archives: The 1969 UNC Food Workers’ Strike.” The performance will take place in Wilson Library’s Pleasant Family Assembly Room and is free to the public. Graham said he thinks this is an important moment in the history of the University and it laid the groundwork for future protests and advocacy by campus workers. “We're especially excited to have this opportunity to talk about the work on campus that may often go unseen and unheralded,” he said. Source:https://www.dailytarheel.com/.../lenoir-workers-strike-0229 Previous Next

Activism Back to Social Justice & Activism 1. FREEDOM RIDERS Stopped Through Greensboro ​ Read More 1. Wilmington Ten ​ Read More 2. FREEDOM RIDERS Stopped Through Greensboro ​ Read More 2. Wilmington Ten ​ Read More 3. Wilmington Ten ​ Read More A Safe Place to Fill Up ​ Read More Andrea Harris ​ Read More Andrea Harris ​ Read More Ann Atwater ​ Read More Anna Julia Cooper ​ Read More Anna Julia Cooper, activist and teacher at M Street High School in Washington, D.C., is well known for articulating a black feminist stance in her book, A Voice from the South (1892). ​ Read More Bennett Belles from Bennett College For Women-1937- ​ Read More Bennett College Students ​ Read More Bree Newsome ​ Read More Cameron Village Sit-In ​ Read More Cameron Village Sit-In. ​ Read More Carolina Theatre round robin protest, 1962 ​ Read More Devon Henry ​ Read More Dr. Willa Johnson Cofield ​ Read More Fannie Lou Hamer ​ Read More Fannie Lou Hamer ​ Read More Fannie Lou Hamer ​ Read More Food Workers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ​ Read More Food Workers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill ​ Read More Freedom Riders ‘surrendered’ in Hillsborough N.C. Arrested & Placed in Bl/Wh Chain Gangs. 2 Year Protest v Seg. Buses. ​ Read More Greensboro Six ​ Read More Journey of Reconciliation members in 1947 ​ Read More Journey of Reconciliation members in 1947 ​ Read More Journey of Reconciliation members in 1947. The Journey of Reconciliation is also referred to as the first Freedom Ride. ​ Read More Mary McLeod Bethune ( left). One of the African American unions formed in the U.S. (right) ​ Read More Moranda Smith ​ Read More Percy High (L) & City Recreation Director Jimmy Chambers (R) ​ Read More Piedmont Leaf Tobacco Plant Strike, 1946 ​ Read More R. Kelly Bryant, Jr. ​ Read More Royal Ice Cream Company shop protesters in 1957 ​ Read More Sanitation Workers Strike in Rocky Mount, NC. ​ Read More William C. Chance ​ Read More William J. Barber II ​ Read More Willie Gertrude Brown ​ Read More

< Back Bennett Belles from Bennett College For Women-1937- ​ Photo: Bennett Belles from Bennett College For Women-1937-Students protesting Jim/Jane Crow laws enforced by the Carolina Movie Theater in Greensboro, NC-photographer unknown. ------ The Power of Black Women’s Political Labor Remembered Bennett College and the Civil Rights Movement By Jennifer Ash — March 9, 2018 Greensboro, North Carolina, is best known for the 1960 sit-ins that sparked a massive student movement to desegregate the South. Despite not being fully acknowledged as leaders in that movement, Black women students from Bennett College were vital to the political climate that made the sit-ins possible and sustained the local movement in the years after. Several Bennett Belles, as they are called, organized actions that have gone unnoticed and nearly lost to history as their contributions have been overshadowed by a male-centered narrative focused narrowly on what took place at the Woolworth’s lunch counter on February 1, 1960. One of these events is a 1957 boycott of the Carolina Theatre. In April 1957, clergymen were invited to a screening of the film The Ten Commandments at the segregated Theatre. Most ministers entered the building using the customary procedures of segregation. However, Reverend Melvin C. Swann, the well-known Black minister of Bethel AME Church, attempted to enter the Theatre “on a non-segregated basis,” through the entrance reserved for whites. Swann was denied entry and left the Theatre, refusing to sit in the segregated balcony. His story traveled down the street to nearby Bennett College, one of two historically Black colleges for women, very quickly. The educational model the institution embraced, which called for Black women to engage in civic matters, made it a well-positioned space for political organizing. Bennett Belles sprang into action and seized the opportunity to galvanize their community around Reverend Swann’s experience. According to archival records, the students consulted with Edward Edmunds, a trusted professor and political organizer. For his part, Edmunds told them to talk to President Willa B. Player. In their first meeting with Player, students expressed concern about the timing of events. Spring break was approaching and soon students would leave town. Player told them that they would have to disregard time and make a decision. After much discussion, they decided to move forward despite the risks. She advised the group to poll their sister Belles, as well as male students from nearby North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (now N.C. A&T State University) and local clergymen, to determine how many would support an organized effort to refrain from attending the Theatre. Before they knew it, Grace Dungee, Paula Edmunds, Ann Stewart, Delores Tonkins, Sonja Weldon, Yvonne Griffin, Wilhemina Bundy, Janice Robinson, Joan Jenkins, and Sonja Louden were planning a boycott. As student organizer Delores Tonkins described it, “this is not a movement of revenge. We are not rushing to the side of noble Reverend Swann. This is a passive Christian movement.” When Bennett women visited church congregations to gain support for the boycott, they explained, “It is our purpose to develop within ourselves a greater sense of moral worth and human dignity by refusing to pay for humiliation and by refusing to accept second-class citizenship through attending segregated theaters. We believe that segregation in any form is a direct violation of Christian principles and diminishes our stature as women.” Because their college placed a special emphasis on respectable behavior, a perfectly coiffed feminine aesthetic, and an educational model that was deeply connected to the communal expectations of Black women as “uplifters” of their race, students also experienced segregation as a slap in the face to their accomplishments and their status within their community as women. While the 1957 boycott did not result in the desegregation of the Carolina Theatre, it was these sorts of campaigns and actions that laid a solid foundation for what was to come in the early 1960s. Additionally, 1957 was not the first or last shining moment of Bennett Belle leadership. Twenty years prior, in 1937, they organized pickets at the Carolina Theatre to protest the theatre’s practice of removing film scenes that portrayed African American actors in less subservient positions. In the late 1950s, Bennett students like Rosalyn Cheagle were sent to Highlander Folk School to train in the techniques of non-violence. They formed a chapter of the NAACP and worked with church congregations to organize actions and campaigns for racial justice. Two students, Shirley Hawkins and Jean Neff, participated in the 1960 conference at Shaw University where SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) was founded. Many Bennett alumnae have repeatedly testified about their involvement in the planning phase of the sit-ins in late 1959. Alumnae like Linda Brown, valedictorian of the class of 1961 and the College’s Willa B. Player Distinguished Professor of Humanities, have told their stories in oral history interviews, newspaper articles, and books, and yet their legacy has yet to be fully realized. In ironic similarity to decisions they faced about the timing of the boycott in 1957, Bennett Belles were forced to decide if they should wait until winter break was over to carry out their plans for a sit-in. According to their testimony, Dr. Player advised them to wait until they returned in January of 1960 to continue their plans. Heeding her advice they postponed any action. Gender influenced how the sit-in movement and other campaigns played out in Greensboro, and how they are remembered. Many organizers regarded Bennett women, and women in general, as liabilities to the movement. As Dr. Esther Terry, class of 1961 and former President of Bennett explained in an oral history interview: “And Dr. [Hobart] Jarrett had said to them, “Well, you girls shouldn’t get engaged in doing that alone,” because, you know, this is the “girls must be protected,” right? So, they were encouraged to invite the A&T boys to sit with them and to plan this sit-in and what it would be, because, you see, we’re talking about something that could be very dangerous.” The cautionary advice of Jarrett, and the more conservative opinion that women should not be on the front lines at all, was prevalent throughout the movement. A few days after four young men from North Carolina A&T sat down at the Woolworth’s lunch-counter, Bennett women joined them. Their actions quickly attracted large numbers of college-age demonstrators. Many were women from Greensboro’s surrounding colleges and universities. The Intercollegiate Council for Racial Equality formed and Bennett women served in leadership positions. Bennett Student Government President Gloria Brown co-chaired the planning committee for mass demonstrations with A&T student Edward Pitt. In addition to participating in the sit-ins, Bennett women organized and executed a voter registration campaign called Operation Doorknock, in the spring of 1960. Operation Doorknock was a community wide effort that sent Bennett students into surrounding working-class Black neighborhoods to register eligible voters. Voting was not unheard of in Greensboro’s Black community, and the danger African Americans faced for registering to vote in places like Mississippi, was not typical in Greensboro. However, this campaign was significant because it challenged notions of class divide. Bennett women, who were seen as the epitome of middle-class respectability, entered the homes of their working-class neighbors and accompanied them to registration sites at nearby community centers. As Dr. Player stated, these efforts challenged, “the separation of town and gown.” In the spring of 1960, as the sit-ins were in full-swing, Bennett women picketed businesses by day and registered voters by night. Their activism continued and between 1963 and 1964 hundreds of Bennett women were arrested and jailed for participating in demonstrations. Every year on February 1, ceremonies of remembrance take place to honor the sit-in movement. Each year Greensboro pays tribute to the four North Carolina A&T State University students—all young Black men—who sat down at that lunch-counter on February 1, 1960. And rightfully so. Their actions were incredibly brave, honorable, and influential. As time has progressed, more Bennett women have shared their stories as well. Currently there are at least five academic historians who are researching and writing about activism at Bennett College. These new narratives that analyze Bennett Belles’ contributions are important for several reasons. Many historians have made it their mission to locate Black women’s stories in the archives and ensure their contributions are incorporated into the mainstream narrative. It is necessary to acknowledge the contributions of Bennett women in order to develop a more accurate narrative of the past; one that shows how notions of gender influenced organizing strategies and memories of what happened. When we acknowledge their labor, we gain a fuller picture of how the movement unfolded and the foundations that were laid early on. We see how the racialized and gendered experiences of Black women under white supremacy were often galvanizing points for whole communities to defy segregation and racial violence. How Black women’s political labor has been remembered in Greensboro is indicative of a larger narrative problem of the civil rights movement and of history in general. We often look to single leader narratives, or four leaders in this case, and too often those leaders are men. But as Ella Baker said, “the movement made Martin, and not Martin the movement.” And quite often, it was Black women who generated and sustained the local movements that made the men. Jennifer Ash is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History and a Graduate Concentrator in Gender and Women’s Studies, at the University of Illinois, Chicago. *Posted with permission from the author* Source: http://www.publicseminar.org/.../the-power-of-black.../ Previous Next