Bill Thorpe

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1976 Hank Anderson starts a Saturday breakfast meeting of Black and social justice leaders Anderson began hosting a Saturday morning breakfast at Dip's Restaurant where African American and social justice leaders discussed problems and political strategy. The group later made endorsements in Chapel Hill and Carrboro elections and carried his name. People: Bill ThorpeSearch the index · OrangePolitics: Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast (November 3, 2011)
2. November 8, 1977 Bill Thorpe leads the voting for the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen In his second run for office, Bill Thorpe led the field from the early returns and won one of four seats on the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen, with Bev Kawalec, Marilyn Boulton and Gerry Cohen.Search the index · North Carolina Newspapers: The Daily Tar Heel, November 9, 1977, page 1
3. 1984 Chapel Hill makes Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a town holiday On Council member Bill Thorpe's initiative, Chapel Hill made the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. an official town holiday, the first town in North Carolina and one of the first municipalities in the nation to do so.Search the index · The Carrboro Citizen: Chapel Hill council member Bill Thorpe dies (October 2, 2008)
4. May 8, 2005 Chapel Hill renames Airport Road as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard At a ceremony beginning outside Town Hall, Airport Road became Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the small Martin Luther King Street became Jackie Robinson Street. Fred Battle, president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, had led the push for the change after noticing that the only public facilities named for Black people were in Black neighborhoods. People: Bill ThorpeSearch the index · DigitalNC: The Daily Tar Heel, April 29, 2005, page 6
5. March 27, 2006 Bill Thorpe petitions the council to name the post office plaza for local activists Council member Bill Thorpe presented a petition to rename the Franklin Street post office plaza for Charlotte Adams and Joe and Lucy Straley, an idea born at Joe Straley's memorial service. The council chose to hold a public hearing, and its naming committee proposed naming the plaza for an ideal with plaques for local peace and justice activists. People: Joe Straley, Lucy Straley, Charlotte AdamsSearch the index · North Carolina Newspapers: The Daily Tar Heel, March 29, 2006, page 3
6. June 2006 Chapel Hill names the post office plaza Peace and Justice Plaza The Town Council named the space in front of the Franklin Street post office Peace and Justice Plaza, after a petition to honor Charlotte Adams and Joe and Lucy Straley. Lucy Straley, then 92, told the Daily Tar Heel the plaza had long been the couple's main backdrop for protest. People: Joe Straley, Bill Thorpe, Charlotte AdamsSearch the index · North Carolina Newspapers: The Daily Tar Heel, September 13, 2007, page 3
7. October 11, 2015 Bill Thorpe and Dean Smith are added to the Peace and Justice Plaza marker At a town Peace and Justice Celebration, the names of former Council member Bill Thorpe and UNC basketball coach Dean Smith were added to the granite marker, which already honored 13 local leaders. Thorpe's son William spoke about him. People: Dean Smith, Mark KleinschmidtSearch the index · North Carolina Newspapers: The Carolina Times, October 10, 2015, page 2