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Revisiting 1969 and the Interrelated Circles of Black Organizations
by Kathleen Jordan
May. 22, 2009
[A group of high school and college students, along with community members and clergy, joined together in 1969 to initiate changes in academic and civic policies that they did not believe reflected the needs of the institutions they attended and the communities in which they lived. In a diverse web of community they worked together to challenge those policies, enact community democracy, and empower themselves and the community. Please see the attached document Black Community Circles of Black Power which shows the interelated community institutions and organizations that worked together, across class, denominational, and generational lines to affect change.
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In May of 1969, Greensboro Dudley High School students elected Claude Barnes as president of the high school’s student government association. The then, predominately white, school board prevented Barnes from taking office, sparking resistance among Dudley Students. Students rose to challenge and override the school board’s decision, soliciting help from the broader community and the governing student body at North Carolina A&T State University. After a culmination of attempted negotiations, students began to engage in protests in an effort to defend their decision and exercise community democracy. Protest and unrest persisted for several weeks. In response to student demands, several Dudley High Students were beaten by the police and others arrested. Over 500 students from NC A&T State University were jailed and the US National Guard was called in. Approximately 650 National Guards flooded the campus of NC A&T causing the university to close prematurely and send students home. As protests and then violence escalated, gunfire ensued from police and North Carolina National Guard troops, injuring NC A&T student Willie Grimes who was later pronounced dead. In a powerful two day event on April 24-25, 2009, the Beloved Community Center in partnership with NC A&T State University History Department and Honors club, commemorated this event, celebrating the lives, legacy and struggle of those involved in the 1969 Dudley A&T Revolt, the events leading up to it, and the events that proceeded. Read more about 1969 here! Please visit the BCC homepage for video footage of the event!