On November 1-3, 1967, UNCG played host to a Black Power Forum, organized in large part by the Student Government Association to “inform students and faculty members of this movement and its actions and to give us a chance to discuss Black Power, its history, its political and social implications for us and the nation.”

The Forum was organized around three topics: “Black Power past and present,” “the ghetto,” and “Black Power and the self-image of the Negro.” Speakers from across the country were brought in for presentations and discussions in Cone Ballroom.

The Forum did not occur without controversy. Editorials declared that the University had been “used” by activists with a specific agenda. Rumors abounded that Ku Klux Klan members planned to attend the Forum, and Chancellor James Ferguson was forced to ask City of Greensboro police officers to attend each of the scheduled sessions to “guard against possible trouble.”

The Black Power Forum also served as a catalyst for the founding of the Neo-Black Society in Fall 1968. As Marie Darr Scott (class of 1970) noted in her 2011 oral history interview, “this Black Power Forum…just opened up a whole new thought and mind for the Black students at UNCG…Not everyone got involved but almost all of the Black students were interested in forming a Black student organization on campus.”

Supplemental Materials

Spartan Story about UNCG’s Black Power Forum