Student Protests: Then and Now

Women’s College Protests During the Civil Rights Era

JoAnne Smart Drane, class of 1960, was one of the first two African American students to be accepted into and attend the Women’s College, now UNCG. In 2008, JoAnne was interviewed about her experiences and her perception of the activism that was occurring on campus during the Woolworth Sit-Ins in Greensboro.

JoAnne recalls the Sit-ins, stating that while she was not directly participating, she had friends that did. She recalls the administration at the Women’s College strongly discouraging students from participating in the protest. With this in mind she also discusses how, at the time, she was a senior and very close to graduating and did not want to jeopardize that. She jokingly reminisces about her friend who said at the time “we were already doing our part” and “we were sitting in with them every day”; in reference to the fact that she and the few Black students at the Women’s College were greatly outnumbered by their white peers.

Another student during this era, Karen Lynn Parker, attended the Women’s College from 1961 to 1963. In a 2012 interview, Karen discusses the protests and activism she was a part of during her time at the Women’s College in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement.

Karen recalls being in a huge Civil Rights march in downtown Greensboro that included students from the Women’s College, A&T, Bennett, and even some white students from Guilford and Greensboro College. She also remembers having to be very quiet due to a threat from the Ku Klux Klan.

Karen also remembers picketing on Tate St. in front of a restaurant called the “Apple Pan”. She says that both white and Black students from the women’s college participated, and she goes on to say that this picketing she did with her fellow Women’s College peers, actually worked. Despite this being her first success as an activist, she reminisces about feeling like it was a “faint success”.

Cafeteria Workers Strike

In her junior year, Kathryn Jordan-Pierce, class of 1970, told her mom she was going to stay in Greensboro over spring break to continue to protest and advocate for the cafeteria workers who were on strike. In her interview, Kathryn said her mom was in favor of this because her mom used to do that for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

The Cafeteria Workers Strike reached beyond UNCG to A&T cafeteria staff as well, as Marie Darr Scott, Class of 1970, recalls. Marie said many of these cafeteria workers were students of A&T. She said there were marches and sit-downs at the UNCG administration building. She recalls that A&T workers were at the negotiating table and would come to campus in suits. Marie speaks about how exhilarating it was to see that and to be a part of the movement. She defines herself as being one of the Black students at the time who “really saw the Black Movement as more their ambition than academics”

Kent State Shooting

Zelphia Grissett, class of 1973 was an undergrad the year the Kent State University Shooting happened. She explains that there were on-campus protests “kids giving speeches: anti-war speeches”. Zelphia says she felt like she didn’t have enough information to be a part of these protests but that she would stop to listen on her way to class. She remembers that these speeches were held between Elliot building and Mckeever which was in the middle of campus.

Zelphia states, “It was like I was watching and observing but I wasn’t a part of it. But it was so pervasive on campus at the time, the demonstrations and students really being sidetracked from academics because of that, the university instituted a pass/fail policy that semester.”

Black History Class at UNCG

Despite the growing number of Black students attending UNCG, there was not a Black History Class for many years.

In another excerpt from Marie Darr Scott’s interview, she explains how she was part of the effort to get a Black history class at UNCG. She recalls petitioning the university and said that the class was relatively easy to obtain it “just took somebody trying”. She said the head of the UNCG History Department, Richard Bardolph, was for it and even wanted to teach the course, but students wanted a Black professor, so Bardolph helped hire one. Marie recalls that because there was not a Black professor on the staff at UNCG at the time, they had to hire a professor from North Carolina Central University. This professor would come up one day out of the week to teach the class. Marie stated “We were okay with that for the moment because what we really wanted the class we wanted Black history to be taught at UNCG”

Black Power Movement

Marie Darr Scott goes on to discuss the culture of activism on campus and aspects of the Black Power Movement.

Marie reflects that it “seemed like UNCG was a comfortable place and most people who came to UNCG were about their academics”, “not making waves, getting married, getting a job”

She recalls that “There was just a segment of students who were more conscious.” She suggests further that the activism on campus wasn’t as widespread stating; “It wasn’t like there was a big anti-war movement” and she feels the only reason the Black Power Movement seemed to spread throughout the college, was because of the Black students that were dispersed throughout the campus. Proportionally, she says, it was a small segment of students that were involved.

Marie mentions the attitude of Black activists in the fall after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; “There was this anger of the Black students”. Students wanted to get together with the community and “Those of us who were militant became more militant”

Black Lives Matter and George Floyd

With the heinous murder of George Floyd and the ensuing Black Live Matter protests in May of 2020, UNCG students found a way to speak out for the Black community even in the midst of a global pandemic. Tangela Johnson, class of 2021 stated in an interview that “If Covid weren’t a thing, (she) would have been more involved, but Covid didn’t stop (her) from being involved at all.” The pandemic just meant that she had to utilize her online presence to help educate people on what was happening and how best to be an ally. Because at the time there was a nationwide quarantine as well as the start of summer, there were not a lot of on-campus protests. This meant that many UNCG students traveled over the summer to attend Black Lives Matter protests in places such as Charlotte and Raliegh.

Irving Montgomery, class of 2021, discusses his experiences attending a Black Lives Matter protest in Raliegh NC over the summer. He recalls that when “we turned down one street and there was riot gear coming at you and you turned down another and there were smoke bombs…”. He explains the stark disconnect between the media portrayal of the protest and what he actually experienced.

While not every UNCG student who wanted to protest was able to Edmond Gayton, class of 2022, was able to utilize his position as the Diversity, Inclusion & Equity Chairman to send a message to the UNCG student body. In his statement, he detailed the importance of upholding the universities values and “continue to fight for a world that is all about inclusion of all regardless of how you identify racially.”