Everyday Struggles

African American Students Studying by the Belltower, circa 1970s. 

Despite the integration of schools in 1954, by the early 1970s, there were still only around 200 students enrolled at NC State; however, by the late 1960s, university-wide enrollment was over 10,000 students.[1] This meant that black students made up only around 2% of the student body. Black students were overwhelmingly in the minority at NC State, and oftentimes this made it difficult for students to advocate for their needs, form organizations, or feel welcome on campus. Black students moved through space on campus, but could not fill it or utilize it in the same way that white students could.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the university was under pressure from the federal government to raise black enrollment. Student Affairs and other administration officials sought to attract black students through a number of tactics. The counseling center tried to provide better counseling for black students and hired some black employees in their office. Administration officials sought to improve tutoring and learning assistance for black students.[2] Additionally, the Society for Afro-American Culture pushed Student Affairs to provide more black cultural events and activities.[3] The Good Neighbor Council, an advocacy group originally formed by Chancellor Caldwell in the late 1960s to combat housing discrimination, also sought to boost black enrollment and overall satisfaction among black students during this time.[4] The Good Neighbor Council was an advocate for black students’ space. The problem of housing was very much a spatial struggle—students could not claim their academic space if they were did not have living space.

NCSU in a Black Perspective, circa 1970s. 

One brochure, distributed by an unnamed organization on campus, was designed for the express purpose of attracting black students. The brochure offered to answer questions black students might have that representatives at “predominantly White institutions” might be “unable to answer effectively.”[5] The brochure contained numerous quotes from black students enrolled at NC State. The most poignant one read, “Being a predominantly White university, North Carolina State University fails to adequately fulfill the social and cultural needs of its Black enrollment.” The student went on to say that the university improves with every year, but this leaves one wondering what these students aren’t saying as they’re asked to help promote their university. The brochure conceded that “black students in the past have experienced racial discrimination in and out of the classroom” and that professors have discriminated against students. The brochure explained the ways in which black students must navigate through university space in order to avoid discrimination and trouble. It informed prospective black students that they are welcome on NC State’s campus, but it did so in careful language.

Other students spoke more forthrightly about their experience at NC State during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In a November 1969 article in the student-run newspaper, The Technician, a black student involved in NC State’s student government was quoted saying black students “are tolerated” at best. Another students said that the administration tries but “has no understanding of [black students’] problems.” Yet another student pointed out that black students cannot even get the campus stores to stock hair and skin products for African Americans. While this might have sounded trivial to white students or administrators reading the article, these sorts of day-to-day differences highlight everyday spatial discrimination. Black students could not even gain space for their needs on store shelves.[6]

Despite the relative few number of black students on campus—or perhaps in part because of it—black students faced antagonism on a regular basis from white students, faculty, and members of the community. There are many examples of this, but perhaps the most useful example lies in the 14 October 1968 issue of The Technician. An op-ed piece addressed requests from unnamed students to remove the Confederate flag from NC State sports events. The author condescendingly dismissed black students who find offense in the flag when he wrote, “The Stars and Bars represents a healthy sort of regional pride…The wisest policy for those who are taking offense at the flag of the Confederacy is to ignore it…their attention and efforts can find many more constructive outlets.”[7] It is easy to imagine that black students were uncomfortable attending an event with a flying Confederate flag; regardless of whether or not they chose to attend anyway, they were denied a space free of symbols of discrimination.

Sources like this tell us that black students struggled to find safe, welcoming spaces on NC State’s campus.

[1] Alice Elizabeth Reagan, North Carolina State University: A Narrative History (Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Brothers, 1987), 194, 207.

[2] Reagan, A Narrative History, 208; Folder 7, Box 2, UA 50.1.1, University Archives Reference Collection, North Carolina State University Special Collections, Raleigh, NC.

[3] The State of History, “Crossing the Color Line,” accessed October 26, 2014. /colorline-home.

[4] “Report of the University Good Neighbor Council, 1968-69,” Folder 1, Box 1, UA 022.053, University Committee Records, North Carolina State University Special Collections, Raleigh, NC.

[5] "NCSU in a Black Perspective." Box 1, folder 3, UA 050.001, University Archives Reference Collection General Records, North Carolina State University Special Collections, Raleigh, NC.

[6] Parks Stewart, “We are Tolerated, say State’s Black Students,” The Technician, 14 November 1969, accessed 24 October 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v54n26-1969-11-14.

[7] Unknown, “Where the winds of Dixie (censored) softly blow…,” The Technician, 14 October 1968, accessed 24 October 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v53n12-1968-10-14.