Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Local figure

M. Norma Snipes

M. Norma Snipes was an educator and civic leader in Orange County's Black community. During World War II she chaired the Citizens Service Corps that Chapel Hill's Black residents organized at the Orange County Training School. A former Jeans teacher, she was named supervisor of the county's schools for Black children in July 1949. When a new state rule ended the post in 1955, the board made her a primary teacher at Efland-Cheeks School.

Source: The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 21, 1943

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to M. Norma Snipes. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about M. Norma Snipes’ life and work. Suggest a source.

Research sources

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

StorylineBlack Chapel Hill on the home front, 1942–19441942–1944 · 9 events · From 1942 to 1944 Chapel Hill's Black residents carried on their own home-front work, from civil defense and scrap collection to bond sales and gardens. By 1943 twelve Black men trained for fire protection had civil defense arm bands, and the Orange County Training School had collected 22,075 pounds of scrap; its Jeep campaign sold more in stamps and bonds than the $900 cost of an Army jeep. Black residents began a Victory Garden campaign and formed a Citizens Service Corps. In 1944 Black veterans of both world wars formed an American Legion post, and a federally funded day nursery for children of Black working mothers opened at the Training School.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 4 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Black Chapel Hill organizes its own Citizens Service Corps The newly organized Citizens Service Corps of Chapel Hill's Black community held its first meeting in the Orange County Training School library under chairman Mrs. M. Norma Snipes, naming chairmen for information, war stamp sales, hospital service, child care and the block system. Fifty-five members were to receive Defense Council awards at the school's commencement. People: M. Norma Snipes, Frances Hargraves, Harold M. Holmes Place: Orange County Training School, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, May 21, 1943, p. 1
  2. The county board hires supervisors of instruction for its Black and white schools The board decided to hire supervisors of instruction and chose Norma Snipes for the Black schools and later Cora Paul Bomar for the white schools. In 1955 the state ended Snipes's position under a rule of one supervisor per hundred teachers, and she went to teach at Efland-Cheeks. People: Cora Paul Bomar, M. Norma Snipes Place: Orange County · Also named: Norma SnipesSearch the index · DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 82
  3. Norma Snipes is appointed supervisor of the county schools for Black children In July 1949 the county named Norma Snipes, formerly a Jeans teacher who trained teachers, as supervisor of its schools for Black children. People: M. Norma Snipes Place: Orange County · Also named: Norma SnipesDigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 160
  4. The county board ends the supervisor post for its Black schools under a new state staffing rule In 1955 the state began allotting a county one supervisor per hundred teachers. The schools Norma Snipes supervised had fewer teachers than that, so the board ended her post and made her a primary teacher at Efland-Cheeks School. People: M. Norma Snipes Place: Orange County · Also named: Norma SnipesDigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 160

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as M. Norma Snipes, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for M. Norma Snipes Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • 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

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about M. Norma Snipes

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

These searches use M. Norma Snipes’s name without birth or death dates, so results may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026