1969 Dudley-A&T Revolt Revisited

by Joyce Johnson

Apr. 17, 2009

[Bishop Cecil Bishop, joining with hundreds of others, will give the keynote address commemorating the historic struggle for democracy that culminated in the Dudley – A&T Revolt in the spring of 1969.]

In the early morning of May 23, 1969, while a 5:00 am until 8:00 pm curfew was in effect over 650 National Guard troops stormed the campus of A&T State University.  More than 200 students were arrested and finger printed and another 300 were detained.   The Campus was thick with the stench of tear gas.  The doors were knocked down and rooms were ransacked in the old Scott Hall Dormitory.  Armored personnel carriers roamed the campus.  Two days earlier a 19 year old student Willie Ernest Grimes had been killed; this was followed by the injury of several police officers.  Then A&T President, Dr. Lewis Dowdy, suspended classes and closed the University for the remainder of the year.
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On the evening of April 24 and all day on April 25 community members, including Dudley and A&T students of the late 1960’s and 1970’s  will join with the current generation of college students and community members to commemorate and learn from the Dudley – A&T Revolt of 1969.  The two day event, sponsored jointly by the Beloved Community Center, the History Department, and the University Honors Program at North Carolina A&T State University, will take place on Friday, April 24th, from 6:30 to 9:00 PM, in the General Classroom Building, located at Sullivan Street and Benbow Road, followed by Saturday, April 25th, from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, in Webb Hall, located at East Market Street and Benbow Road.  Lewis A. Brandon, III, a 1960’s activist and current coordinator of the Beloved Community Center’s (BCC) grassroots history program, said that “the struggle for democracy of 1969 is one of the most significant events of the 1960’s and yet it is one of the least understood.  “In fact, it is mainly misunderstood as merely a riot.”

This spring marks the 40th anniversary of those turbulent days in Greensboro.  Commenting on the 1969 events Mr. Brandon said, “so much leading up to the three day Dudley – A&T Revolt is either not known or terribly distorted. Official Greensboro has a way of trying to forget, erase or sanitize  parts of its history but we as a community need to remember the real meaning of these events.”

Bishop Cecil Bishop, then pastor Trinity AMEZ Church, played a leading role in attempting to get the voice of the community heard during a six week period leading up to the assault on A&T by the National Guard.  Bishop Cecil Bishop will give the keynote address on Saturday April 25, 10:00 AM in Webb Hall. He will reflect on the role of religion and the church in the struggle of the late 1960’s and especially in the struggle for democracy at Dudley High School.  Bishop Bishop will also share his thoughts on the current role of religion and the church in the ongoing struggle for social and economic justice.

Records and subsequent research, especially Duke University history professors Dr. William Chafe’s award winning book, Civilities and Civil Rights, reveal that the immediate trigger for the Dudley – A&T Revolt was the refusal by an all white Greensboro Board of Education to allow Claude Barnes, then a resident of Morningside Homes, to be placed on the ballot to run for President of the Dudley High Student Council. After learning that Claude would not be listed on the ballot, Dudley students organized a write-in campaign, and Claude won overwhelmingly but was still not allowed to take the office of Student Council President by the same school board.  The reason school officials gave for denying the democratic election of Claude Barnes was that he was involved with militants who were organizing for community change. 

After weeks of unsuccessful efforts by community leaders, including Rev. Julius Douglas of St. James Presbyterian Church, Rev. Otis Hairston of Shiloh Baptist Church, Rev. Cecil Bishop of Trinity AMEZ Church, Rev. George Gay of St. Stephen United Church of Christ, Rev. Prince Graves of St. James Baptist Church, Rev. Carlton Morales of Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Mr. A.S. Webb Chief Executive of American Federal Savings & Loan, Mr. B.J. Battle of the Greensboro NAACP, and others to get the matter resolved, Dudley students began a student protest that resulted in a large number of students being arrested. 

On May 9th, a number of Dudley students left jail and walked over to a conference of black college student leaders from around the country meeting at A&T.  This was the founding conference of the Student Organization for Black Unity, or SOBU, organized largely by the then standing A&T Student Government Vice-President, Willie Avon Drake. The young high school students requested support for their efforts from conference participants.  Approximately 500 students and conference attendees marched from A&T to Dudley High School and the newly elected Vice- President of the A&T Student Government Association, Nelson Johnson, installed Claude Barnes in an unofficial ceremony in the Girl’s Gym at Dudley High School.  There was no violence associated with the event.

An article written by Robert Stephens for the Greensboro Daily News on May 22, 1969 seems to capture the mood of the African American community at that time.  The article quotes Carolina Peacemaker Founder, John Marshall Kilimanjaro, extensively: “’I try not to lose my temper, but his really makes me mad,’ said John Marshall Stevenson [Kilimanjaro], black editor of the Carolina Peacemaker, as he stood on the grounds of Dudley High school Tuesday morning and watched newsmen, teachers, and plains-clothes policemen milling about.  ‘We want to do things our way in our own community, and like it or not, this is a separate community.”

According to Rev. Nelson Johnson, current Executive Director of the BCC, “the Dudley – A&T Revolt is unintelligible when taken out of the context of the rather effective struggle for community control and community empowerment by the black community, especially black youth. By the late 1960’s the Civil Rights Movement, which was broadly understood as a movement for ‘integration,’ had matured, especially among the youth, into a movement for black power and community control.  During this period the Greensboro Association of Poor People [GAPP] emerged as a powerful network of grassroots community groups throughout Southeastern Greensboro.”

 Leadership associated with GAPP included Nelson Johnson, Barbara Ferguson Kamara, Mary Oliver, Dorothy Johnson Russell, Lula Mae Pennix, Rosella Jarrell, Jane McKay, Walter Brame, Thomas Bailey, Douglas Gill, Lewis Brandon, and a large number of additional neighborhood group leaders.  GAPP had proven itself to be a very effective organizing and mobilizing organization.  In fact, it was largely because of GAPP that Greensboro was seen as one of the most advanced areas in the nation struggling for community control and community empowerment.  The 1969 events have been highlighted in performances by the E. Gwynn Dancers and A&T’s Performing Arts Department, entitled Bullet Holes in the Wall, and in a documentary film, produced by A&T alumnus, Michael Anthony Williams, Walls that Bleed.

As part of the work of GAPP, a youth component of the movement was formed called, Youth for the Unity of a Black Society (YUBS).  Claude Barnes, who went on to earn his Doctorate in Political Science, was one of the youth leaders of this group, along with Robert Evans, Harold Davis, Mike Akins, Cornelia Cunningham Montague, Michelle Grandison, Adrienne Weekes, James and Frances Kate McNair, Jackie Donnell, Kenny Wright, Deborah Jackson, and many others.  It was young Claude’s membership in this youth group and its association with GAPP that was used to exclude him as a candidate for election to the presidency of the Dudley Student Council.  The commemorative conference will involve two days of story telling, reflections, honoring the past and drawing meaning for the months and years ahead. Included in the activities will be the Friday evening Keynote by Dr. Jelani Favors, an A&T alumnus, the E. Gwynn Dancers, and a tribute to participants in the 1969 events, including a memorial to Willie Ernest Grimes.  All events are free and open to the public.  For more information, visit the BCC website at www.BelovedCommunityCenter.org or call Lewis Brandon at the BCC at (336) 230-0001.

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