Yonni Chapman

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 17 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1978–1980 Yonni Chapman leads the North Carolina Memorial Hospital Employees Forum Chapman, a hematology laboratory technician at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill from 1975 to 1985, served as president of the hospital's Employees Forum from 1978 to 1980 and helped unite coworkers against racial discrimination and unsafe working conditions. Place: North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Chapman, John Kenyon (Yonni) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 26, 1979, p. 3
2. week of February 19, 1979 Memorial Hospital's employees forum presses UNC on parking after the snows The North Carolina Memorial Hospital Employees Forum, led by Yonni Chapman, met to air grievances about parking and about icy, unplowed lots after the February snows, which it said forced some nurses to work 36- and 48-hour shifts. Hospital director Robert Burgin said a task force on weather emergencies had been formed, and the University said it would hire outside crews for future snows. People: Yonni Chapman Place: North Carolina Memorial Hospital, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert BurginThe Daily Tar Heel, February 26, 1979, p. 3
3. February 13-21, 1980 Memorial Hospital dietary workers protest discrimination and working conditions About 30 dietary workers at N.C. Memorial Hospital, organized as the United Workers Organizing Committee, rallied on February 13, 1980, and gave the food service director a petition and demands charging that the hospital had promoted a white supervisor with eight years' experience over Black workers with 15 to 25 years and had let job training lapse. The Communist Workers Party, through its spokesman Yonni Chapman, backed them and spoke of a possible strike; after a week of meetings the hospital agreed to a five-day week with alternate weekends off, an employee restroom and an in-service training program, and said on February 21 it considered the protest concluded. People: Yonni Chapman Place: N.C. Memorial Hospital, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, February 14, 1980, p. 3
4. April 2, 1980 UNC's Physical Plant grants two of the housekeepers' demands Answering demands that about 60 housekeeping assistants had presented the previous Friday with help from Communist Workers Party supporters, the Physical Plant director agreed to drop warnings given workers who missed work on the snow days of January 31 and February 6 and to let them meet with all employees regularly during work time. He made no promise on removing two supervisors, exempting housekeepers from shoveling snow or rehiring a fired employee, and organizer Yonni Chapman said the workers would seek petitions of support from students and faculty. People: Yonni Chapman Place: Physical Plant, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, April 3, 1980, p. 3
5. 1982 Yonni Chapman and Fred Battle found the Orange County Rainbow Coalition of Conscience Chapman and Fred Battle co-founded the Orange County Rainbow Coalition of Conscience, which worked on local school politics and on Jesse Jackson's 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns. In April 1985 Battle told the Daily Tar Heel that the Rainbow Coalition grew out of the Jackson campaign and combined with the Coalition of Conscience in 1984; in the fall of 1984 the paper called his group the Rainbow Coalition of Orange County. People: Fred Battle, Jesse Jackson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · NCpedia: Chapman, John Kenyon (Yonni) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, April 12, 1985, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, October 30, 1984, p. 2; The Daily Tar Heel, February 21, 1985, p. 2
6. September 21, 1982 About 200 students rally in the Pit against the Warren County PCB landfill On September 21, 1982, about 200 students gathered in the Pit for a rally against the state's burial of PCB-contaminated soil in a Warren County landfill, sponsored by the UNC chapter of the Federation for Progress and endorsed by the campus Public Interest Research Group. The Rev. Leon White of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, then on a hunger strike, urged students to join the next Monday's march at the site, and the Daily Tar Heel reported that he called Gov. Jim Hunt a racist and attacked the paper's editorial against treating the dispute as a racial issue. People: Yonni Chapman Place: The Pit, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Leon White, Jim HuntSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 22, 1982, p. 1
7. October 26, 1983 Rival rallies in the Pit support and protest the invasion of Grenada On October 26, 1983, the day after U.S. forces invaded Grenada, about 100 people gathered in the Pit for a rally of the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles backing the invasion, while about 100 others joined a protest by the Carolina Committee on Central America, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Communist Workers Party and Students Taking Action for Nuclear Disarmament that began in front of Sadlack's on Franklin Street and moved to the Pit. Speakers at the protest warned that Nicaragua could be next. People: Yonni Chapman Place: The Pit and Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, October 27, 1983, p. 1
8. April 17, 1984 Rally in the Pit condemns the acquittal of nine Klansmen and Nazis in the Greensboro civil rights trial About 150 people gathered on the steps of Lenoir Hall for a 'Rally for Justice' two days after an all-white federal jury in Winston-Salem acquitted nine Klansmen and Nazis of violating the civil rights of the five demonstrators killed in Greensboro on November 3, 1979. Dale Sampson, whose husband was killed, and Yonni Chapman, Chapel Hill spokesman for the Communist Workers Party, were among about 13 speakers; the Stage-a-Change Theatre Ensemble, the Communist Workers Party and the UNC Democratic Socialists of America sponsored it. People: Yonni Chapman Place: The Pit, Lenoir Hall steps, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Dale Sampson · Also mentions: Lenoir HallSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 18, 1984, p. 1
9. April 19, 1984 Students and townspeople hold a vigil at the Franklin Street Post Office against the Greensboro acquittals About 75 students and residents gathered in front of the Franklin Street Post Office to protest the acquittals, called for a congressional investigation of racial violence in North Carolina and backed the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund's planned civil suit. Organizer Yonni Chapman, the pastor of the Community Church and Carolina Gay Association chairman Robert Pharr spoke; the group then stood outside Carmichael Auditorium asking Gary Hart to address racial violence, and received no reply. People: Yonni Chapman Place: Franklin Street Post Office, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert Pharr, Gary Hart · Also mentions: Carmichael AuditoriumSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 20, 1984, p. 3
10. November 1984 The Orange County Rainbow Coalition of Conscience forms a Committee on Southern Africa The Orange County Rainbow Coalition of Conscience formed a Committee on Southern Africa to promote peace and justice in southern Africa and educate the public, working for sanctions and divestment. By September 1985 the committee, chaired by Yonni Chapman, was running a postcard campaign to Sen. Jesse Helms and planning an anti-apartheid resolution for the Chapel Hill Town Council. People: Yonni Chapman Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Jesse HelmsSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 10, 1985, p. 1
11. September 8, 1985 About 120 people hold a candlelight vigil against apartheid at the Chapel Hill post office About 120 people gathered in front of the Franklin Street post office for a candlelight vigil against apartheid sponsored by the Orange County Rainbow Coalition of Conscience, closing a postcard campaign that urged Sen. Jesse Helms not to filibuster sanctions against South Africa. Speakers included Council member Bill Thorpe, former council member Joe Straley, council candidate Joe Herzenberg and congressional candidate Kirsten Nyrop, and the group said it would ask the Town Council for a resolution discouraging local business with South Africa. People: Yonni Chapman, Bill Thorpe, Joe Straley Place: Post office, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Joe Herzenberg, Kirsten Nyrop, Jesse HelmsSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 10, 1985, p. 1
12. November 13, 1986 Students and the Rainbow Coalition hold a vigil against racism at the Franklin Street post office The UNC Anti-Apartheid Support Group and the Orange County Rainbow Coalition of Conscience held a candlelight vigil at the Franklin Street post office against racism in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools and in South Africa. Yonni Chapman of the coalition said Black first graders' test scores already lagged far behind white pupils' and blamed school officials' expectations; English professor Trudier Harris and BSM vice president Eric Walker also spoke. People: Yonni Chapman Place: Post Office, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Trudier Harris, Eric Walker · Also mentions: Chapel Hill-Carrboro schoolsSearch the index · Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), December 2, 1986, p. 5