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James Merritt

James (Jim) Merritt, a Northside native, joined the Colonial Drug sit-in of February 28, 1960 as one of the Chapel Hill Nine. He later fought in Vietnam, had a long career in public education, and in 2008 was appointed to the Chapel Hill Town Council after council member Bill Thorpe died.

Source: The Local Reporter: Jim Merritt (Orange Slices, February 9, 2021)

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to James Merritt. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about James Merritt’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.

Research sources

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 2 dated events in the chronology →

  1. The Chapel Hill Nine sit-in Nine Black young men held Chapel Hill’s first sit-in at Colonial Drug. People: Harold Foster, William Cureton, John Farrington, Earl Geer, David Mason Jr., Clarence Merritt Jr., James Merritt, Douglas Perry, Albert WilliamsTown of Chapel Hill
  2. The Town of Chapel Hill unveils the Chapel Hill Nine marker at the Colonial Drug site On the sixtieth anniversary of the sit-in the town dedicated sculptor Stephen Hayes's stone-based marker at 450 West Franklin Street, naming the nine students; four of them, Dave Mason Jr., James Merritt, Douglas Perry and Albert Williams, attended the unveiling. People: David Mason Jr., James Merritt, Douglas Perry, Albert WilliamsDocumenting the American South: Commemorative Landscapes, Chapel Hill Nine Memorial, Chapel Hill

Research sources

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Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for James Merritt Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Books about James Merritt

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