Black Militancy and Cooperation

In the late 1960s, North Carolina was changing. Henry E. Frye became the first black legislator elected to North Carolina’s General Assembly in the twentieth century, student activism became a part of NC State’s, UNC-Chapel Hill’s, and Duke University’s campuses, and black employees banded together to fight for equal space in their respective workplaces.[1] Duke’s dining hall and custodial workers went on strike in 1968, agitating for better wages and working conditions.[2] UNC-Chapel Hill’s food service workers called a strike twice in 1969, demanding increased wages, benefits, and respect from management.[3] Importantly, the university employees who banded together and demonstrated collective militancy were often supported by other campus groups. In 1969, only five days after UNC-Chapel Hill’s employees called their first strike, NC State experienced a significant act of black militancy among its employees that drew campus support, demonstrated to university administration that employees were more than capable of fighting for equal workspace, and eventually helped bring change to some of NC State’s workplaces.