Space at the Negotiating Table
As things got better for students in the 1970s, they began to have more equal access to “the negotiating table.” This is perhaps the most amorphous space for which black students fought. Black students struggled for a voice on campus and a say in the decisions that would affect their lives. Through peaceful protest in the 1960s and cooperation with entities like the Society for Afro-American Culture, the Good Neighbor Council, and the African-American Cultural Center in the 1970s, black students gained space in the discussion of the university’s future and their own.
Photos and Technician articles from the late 1970s demonstrate the strides black students made in integrating themselves, often in the face of opposition, into NC State’s culture and white student body. [1] Through cooperation and collaboration with white students, black students gained access to social circles, campus gatherings, and political rallies that put them in a position to have an equal voice as their white counterparts. Likewise, because of the successful lobbying of black students and community members, black members of the NC State community gained equal opportunity and equal space to share and celebrate their culture, heritage, and traditions through events like the Pan-African festival on campus. This sort of interaction and promotion familiarized white community members with black identity and fostered closer ties and diminished discrimination, which in turn aided the black cause at the university and in the community.[2]
Black participation in the classroom grew in the mid-1970s and as a result black students had more academic clout at the university. As more and more black students attended the university, their collective voice was less easily ignored. The university began planning academic events especially for black students, such as engineering conferences held on campus. Their presence was beginning to matter, and their voices were beginning to be heard. This was important as black students, faculty, and staff pushed forward for even more opportunities and equality in the late 1970s and early 1980s. [3]
However, while NC State was making progress in the 1970s, it still had a long way to go to achieve equality among the student body.[7]
[1] Unknown, 1977-1978 N.C. State University women's basketball players study session, circa 1977-78. Accessed 24 October 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/0012301.
[2] Unknown, Student at Pan-African Festival, 12 April 1978, accessed 24 October 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/0227867.
[3] Unknown, NC State University, College of Engineering, conferences and events, african americans in engineering conference, circa 1970s, accessed 24 October 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/0231680.
[4] "Integration at State: Only in Math Class." The Technician, 21 October 1968, accessed September 28, 2014. http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v53n15-1968-10-21.
[5] "Farber's The Student as Nigger." The Technician, Summer Edition, 1971, accessed on October 3, 2014. http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/technician-v51n85-1971-Summer-Edition.
[6] Karen Archia, "Teacher goes from freshman to doctor," The Technician Black History Special, date unknown.
[7] Unknown, "Report of the Good Neighbor Council 1969-1970," Folder 1, Box 1, University Committee Records UA 022.053, North Carolina State University Special Collections, Raleigh, NC; Cyrus B. King, "Memorandum on the Subject of Gender Discrimination," Folder 6, Box 1, UA 022.053 University Committee Records, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.