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Storyline

Black workers and campus labor

From the enslaved and hired laborers of the university’s first century to the staff of the affirmative-action era: the cooks, janitors, laundresses, and grounds crews whose work ran the campus, mostly unnamed in its records.

In briefEnslaved men built and served the university from its first buildings, Wilson Caldwell led its labor force after Reconstruction, and the janitors organized an association in 1930 that became a CIO local in 1942. The university named the laundry for Kennon Cheek and Rebecca Clark in 1998, dedicated the Unsung Founders Memorial in 2005 and published the names of 119 enslaved workers in 2018.

Read the 73 eventsAll storylines

28 works about Black workers and campus labor are indexed here.

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The monument to Wilson Swain Caldwell in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, placed by the class of 1891
The monument to Wilson Swain Caldwell in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, placed by the class of 1891

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 73 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Enslaved men owned by contractor James Patterson paint the roof of Old East James Patterson, the slaveholding contractor who built Old East between 1793 and 1795, reported in a 1795 letter that several of his own enslaved workers had painted the building's roof. Their names were not recorded. People: James PattersonUNC University Archives (For the Record): Slave Labor and Old East
  2. Named enslaved workers build the third story of Old East Bills from William Nichols's 1822 to 1824 enlargement of Old East list enslaved carpenters, bricklayers and laborers including Bob, Henry, Nelson, Allman, Tony, Luke, Isaac and Ned Peek, with their pay due to their owners. One bill from John C. White came to about $395. People: William NicholsUNC University Archives (For the Record): Slave Labor and Old East
  3. Trustee William Polk hires out five enslaved men to build Old West Jourdan, Jim, Stephen, Charles and Joe, men enslaved by William Polk, worked on the construction of Old West, then called New College. By a settlement of May 22, 1823, the university had paid Polk $600 for their labor.Search the index · UNC Libraries, Slavery and the Making of the University: 22 May 1823, "Settlement with Col. William Polk."
  4. James, an enslaved college servant, escapes from Chapel Hill James, who had worked four years as a college servant at the university, left Chapel Hill on the night of November 20, 1829. Samuel M. Stewart, who held him, advertised a $20 reward in the Hillsborough Recorder and thought he was making for Norfolk or Richmond to reach the free states or Africa through the Colonization Society. The University Archives has told his story, which survives only through that notice.UNC University Archives (For the Record): Ran Off from the University, 1829
  5. Professor James Phillips hires David Barham from his owner as a college servant In 1830 Professor James Phillips hired David Barham from William Barham to work as a college servant. A university account book page from the same year shows students paying a two-dollar fee to compensate the slaveholders whose people were hired as servants. People: James PhillipsUNC University Archives (For the Record): The Names of the Enslaved People who Built the University of North Carolina
  6. Enslaved plasterers, masons and laborers work on South Building's new roof Thomas Waitt's bill for 1837 work on South Building, including its tin roof, lists wages for enslaved plasterers and masons Stewart, Chester, Peter, Calvin and Evans and laborers including Lewis, Tom, Redin, Abraham and Jordan. People: Thomas WaittUNC University Archives (For the Record): Slave Labor and South Building
  7. Dabney Cosby takes the masonry subcontract for the lengthening of Old East and Old West Chapel Hill contractors Isaac J. Collier and Kendall B. Waitt subcontracted the masonry of the university additions to Cosby, who put enslaved workmen including the brothers Osborne and Albert on the job. Cosby and the architect Alexander Jackson Davis quarrelled over the drawings, and president David L. Swain asked the Hillsborough builder John Berry to look at the brickwork, which Berry reported was defective. People: John Berry, David L. Swain, Alexander Jackson Davis, Isaac J. Collier, Kendall B. WaittIn the index: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · North Carolina Architects and Builders, NC State University Libraries: Cosby, Dabney (1779-1862)
  8. The university awards Isaac J. Collier and Kendall B. Waitt the contract for the Old East and Old West additions On December 23, 1844, Collier and Waitt won the contract to build A. J. Davis's three-story brick additions to Old East and Old West, at $9,360. They subcontracted the masonry to Dabney Cosby; the next day trustee secretary Charles Manly asked that they hire his enslaved carpenters. People: Alexander Jackson Davis, Dabney Cosby, Charles Manly, Kendall B. WaittSearch the index · North Carolina Architects and Builders, NC State University Libraries: Collier, Isaac J. (b. ca. 1810)
  9. Brothers Albert and Osborne, enslaved by Dabney Cosby, plaster the lengthened Old East The additions to Old East and Old West, contracted in December 1844 and finished in 1848, used the labor of Albert and Osborne, brothers enslaved by Dabney Cosby, who plastered the lengthened Old East in 1845 and 1846. Cosby praised Albert's plastering as first-rate work. People: Albert, Osborne, Dabney Cosby, Alexander Jackson DavisUNC University Archives (For the Record): Slave Labor and Old East
  10. Trustees bar students from bringing their own enslaved servants to the university After 1845 the trustees prohibited students from bringing enslaved people of their own to Chapel Hill. The university went on hiring enslaved college servants by the year from local slaveholders.Carolina Story: Virtual Museum of University History: Account book page, 1830
  11. Osborne begins the masonry on the additions to Old East and Old West Dabney Cosby, who held the masonry subcontract for the university additions, sent Osborne to Chapel Hill carrying a letter to the main contractors saying that Osborne would have his mortar made up. Cosby ordered meal and bacon for him and wrote that what Osborne said could be relied on. People: Dabney CosbyIn the index: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · North Carolina Architects and Builders, NC State University Libraries: Albert and Osborne (fl. 1820s-1850s)
  12. Albert joins his brother Osborne to plaster the halls at the university Cosby sent Albert from Smithfield in Virginia to Chapel Hill, where Osborne was already at work on the additions to Old East and Old West. Albert carried a letter to university president David L. Swain saying he came to help his brother plaster the halls and would judge the sand to be used together with Osborne. People: Dabney Cosby, David L. SwainIn the index: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · UNC Libraries, Slavery and the Making of the University: Dabney Cosby to David L. Swain, 11 May 1846
Show all 73 dated events
  1. Free Black cabinetmaker Thomas Day supplies woodwork and furniture for the new society halls Thomas Day, the free Black cabinetmaker of Milton, North Carolina, supplied woodwork and furniture for the halls and libraries of the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies in A. J. Davis's north additions to Old East and Old West. Little names him, with the Virginia builder Dabney Cosby, among the craftsmen who carried out Davis's design. People: Thomas Day, Dabney CosbyNC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 23
  2. English gardeners lay out the campus grounds The trustees began spending $1,000 a year on the still wild campus under gardeners trained in England, first Loader and then Paxton, with Black laborers. They cleared useless trees, macadamized much of Cameron Avenue and the main walks, lined walks with roses and screened the hotel stables with hedges.Search the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 524
  3. Tom Jones, an enslaved servant at the university for twenty years, dies at work in South Building Tom Jones, an enslaved man who had waited on the students at the university for about twenty years, collapsed in South Building while at work and died almost at once, apparently of heart disease. His funeral was held on Sunday, January 17, and the Chapel Hill Gazette used the occasion to argue against the Northern abolitionists.The Chapel Hill Gazette, January 23, 1858, p. 2
  4. Wilson Caldwell walks out with President Swain under a white flag to meet approaching Union troops When Union troops approached Chapel Hill in 1865, Wilson Caldwell walked out under a white flag with President David L. Swain, Judge W. H. Battle and others to meet the incoming cavalry and seek protection for the town and the university. People: William Horn Battle, David L. SwainSearch the index · Carolina Story: Wilson Caldwell (1841-1898), Slavery and the University
  5. Wilson Caldwell resigns from the university and founds a school for Black children In 1869 Wilson Caldwell, who had worked at the university as an enslaved servant and janitor, resigned and started a school for children of color in Chapel Hill. People: Wilson Swain CaldwellChapelboro: Celebrating the Life of Wilson Caldwell
  6. Students of the Pool university board chiefly with Black families With about fifteen students from away and as many day scholars, the Pool university's boarders lived mostly with Black households, among them those of Wilson Caldwell, John Ashe and Sam Mahew. Spencer noted that all the boys were poor and held free scholarships. People: Wilson Swain CaldwellHope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 214
  7. November Caldwell, once enslaved by President Joseph Caldwell, dies November Caldwell (1791-1872), held in slavery by Joseph Caldwell, brought firewood to the students, who were fond of him for his humor. A memorial in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery on the campus honors him. People: Joseph CaldwellNC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 31
  8. Wilson Caldwell returns to the reopened university and later heads its labor force When the university reopened in 1875 Wilson Caldwell went back to work there. He became curator of South Building and head of the campus labor corps, and held the post until his death in 1898. People: Wilson Swain CaldwellTown of Chapel Hill: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Tour
  9. Students and Black residents nearly come to blows on election night in Chapel Hill While votes were being counted on the night of a Chapel Hill election in 1884, a young Black man from the country tried to trip a student, and students and Black townspeople gathered on both sides before the crowd broke up with little harm. Students afterward whipped Eli, a Black man who waited on the West Building, for cheering the other side.Search the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 301
  10. Wilson Caldwell is elected to the Chapel Hill board of commissioners Placed on the Republican ticket without seeking it, Wilson Caldwell, head of the university's labor force, was elected a Chapel Hill commissioner about 1886, defeating Professor Ralph Graves. James Lee Love recalled an earlier race, about 1882 or 1883, in which Caldwell beat Professor A. W. Mangum. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889), Adolphus Williamson MangumTown of Chapel Hill: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Tour
  11. Jerry Mason, who served university students for more than fifty years, dies Jerry Mason, an elderly Black man who had waited on students at the University of North Carolina for more than fifty years, died at Chapel Hill. The Durham Herald, quoted by the Observer, said he was very widely known and had many friends among white residents.Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), March 11, 1897, p. 2
  12. Wilson Caldwell dies and is buried in the Chapel Hill town cemetery Wilson Caldwell, head of the university's campus workforce, died on July 8, 1898 and was buried the next day in the Chapel Hill town cemetery, now the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery; Kemp Battle gave the funeral address.In the index: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · DigitalNC: The News and Observer, July 12, 1898, p. 3 (Wilson Caldwell Dead) · Also: Chapelboro: Celebrating the Life of Wilson Caldwell
  13. The old Joseph Caldwell obelisk is taken down, later to stand for four college servants In July 1904 the remains of President Joseph Caldwell and his wife were moved to the base of the 1858 marble monument, and the original sandstone obelisk was taken down, to be set up again in the Black section of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. It was later raised over Wilson Caldwell's grave, and a marble tablet placed in its base by the Class of 1891 names Wilson Swain Caldwell, November Caldwell, David Barham and Henry Smith, who served the university. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Joseph CaldwellDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), pp. 694-695 · Also: Documenting the American South
  14. Students start night classes for the Black men who served the dormitories Asked for help by the young Black workers who cut firewood and carried water in the dormitories, students began teaching them reading and arithmetic in what were called moonlight schools. Under Frank Porter Graham at the campus YMCA the classes grew to take in history, English, writing, debating, home sanitation and the Bible. People: Frank Porter GrahamHoward E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 81
  15. University janitors organize with the Industrial Workers of the World Black janitors at the university formed an affiliate of the IWW and weighed a strike for higher wages as the spring term closed. Business manager Charles T. Woollen answered that he would hire a new crew from Durham, and the effort faded. That fall all the campus help lost their jobs when the SATC took over the buildings. People: Charles T. WoollenHoward E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), pp. 359-360
  16. Kennon Cheek joins the janitorial staff of Venable Hall Cheek began working for the university as a boy, helping his father Rubin Cheek, a stonemason born in slavery in Warren County, lay the stone walls around the campus. Around 1920 he joined the janitorial staff of Venable Hall.Search the index · UNC Names in Brick and Stone: Cheek Clark Building
  17. The campus contractor builds separate quarters for white and Black workers The trustees made T. C. Thompson and Brothers of Charlotte sole contractor for the $1.1 million building program, a first in the state. Its first job was housing the initial 200 workers, in one dormitory for white men and another for African American men. People: Thomas C. AtwoodHoward E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 240
  18. William "Long Bill" Jones, University janitor and founder of a pressing club, dies William Jones, an aged Black man known to students as "Long Bill," died at Lincoln Hospital in Durham and was buried in Chapel Hill's Black cemetery on September 12. He had worked for years as a janitor at the University and some years before had started the Long Bill Pressing Club, which his wife and two sons ran after his health failed.The News (Chapel Hill), September 14, 1922, p. 5
  19. A Black bricklayer is killed by a fellow worker on the new university gymnasium James Headen, a Black bricklayer working on the new university gymnasium, died on December 12, 1923, after his Black helper, Claude Atwater, struck him on the head with a brick during a quarrel, the News reported. Headen died at Lincoln Hospital in Durham, and Atwater fled.The News (Chapel Hill), December 13, 1923, p. 1
  20. Fletcher Whitted, head waiter at the Loop Eating Club, dies Fletcher Whitted, the Black head waiter of the Loop Eating Club for ten years and a well-known figure in Chapel Hill, died suddenly at his home. Many of the students he had served paid their respects at his home before his funeral the next afternoon.The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 15, 1929, p. 6
  21. George McCauley, longtime janitor of the University pharmacy building, dies George McCauley, a Black man who for many years was janitor of the pharmacy building and was known to hundreds of pharmacy students, died at his home at 71.The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 7, 1930, p. 6
  22. Black janitors organize the UNC Janitors' Association Facing a threatened 10 percent pay cut, janitors Kennon Cheek, Frank Hairston, Elliot Washington and Melvin Rich organized the Janitors' Association, with Cheek as its first president. Its early gains included a week's paid vacation and showers in the janitors' bathrooms. People: Kennon CheekNames in Brick and Stone: Histories from UNC's Built Landscape: Cheek Clark Building
  23. The university's Black janitors back John J. Parker's Supreme Court nomination The association of the university's forty-six Black dormitory janitors, with Kennon Cheek as president, wired Senator Lee S. Overman on the night of Monday, April 28, 1930, a resolution backing the confirmation of John J. Parker, President Hoover's nominee for the Supreme Court, a UNC alumnus and federal appeals judge whom many of them had served as a student. The Senate rejected the nomination amid opposition over his segregationist statements as a 1920 candidate for governor. People: Kennon Cheek, Lee S. OvermanHoward E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 414 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 2, 1930, p. 3
  24. Bill McDade and Charles Craig become custodians of the new Graham Memorial Bill McDade, a Black Chapel Hill man connected with the University since 1875 and known to thousands of alumni, and Charles Craig became the two custodians of the Graham Memorial student building, which opened that fall with a lounge, a game room and meeting rooms. People: Charles C. CraigThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 16, 1931, p. 1
  25. The University's Black janitors take up a collection for the town's relief fund Though they had been out of work over the summer and had their pay cut along with all University employees, the Black janitors on the campus told P. L. Burch, superintendent of buildings, that they wanted to help when they heard of the relief plans. They chipped in, and one of them brought Burch $7 for the citizens' relief committee. People: Peter L. BurchThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 23, 1931, p. 1
  26. Kennon Cheek moves that the Janitors' Association give to the student loan fund Frank Porter Graham came to an association meeting to tell the janitors that the Depression would cut their wages but that everyone would come through together. Cheek then moved that the Janitors' Association give five dollars to the fund set up to keep students in school, the first campus organization to contribute to it. The Chapel Hill Weekly of January 29, 1932, reported the $5 as one of the first responses to the community drive for the students' loan fund. People: Frank Porter GrahamSearch the index · UNC Names in Brick and Stone: Cheek Clark Building · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 29, 1932, p. 1
  27. University freshmen start a weekly pension for retired janitor Anthony Johnson The freshman class took up a weekly collection at Memorial Hall to pension Anthony Johnson, the Black janitor of the medical building who had retired in old age, and the student assembly honored him with a tribute from Dr. Charles S. Mangum while he sat on the stage. People: Charles Staples MangumThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 19, 1932, p. 1
  28. The University Janitors' Association reports the University's pledge that no Black workers will be dismissed When a rumor spreading from Durham said the University would dismiss its janitors and other Black employees, the officers of the University Janitors' Association wrote to the Weekly that President Frank Graham and business manager Charles T. Woollen had assured them no janitors had been or would be discharged, which the association said had been the policy throughout the Depression. People: Frank Porter Graham, Charles T. WoollenThe Chapel Hill Weekly, August 11, 1933, p. 1
  29. Janitors' Association president Elliot Washington asks for help joining a union In 1934 Dean Robert House wrote to President Frank Porter Graham about a request from association president Elliot Washington for help with union membership, since the janitors could not afford local union dues. People: Frank Porter Graham, R. B. HouseThe Daily Tar Heel: A history of housekeepers organizing at UNC
  30. Bill McDade, University janitor since 1875, dies Bill McDade, 84, born in slavery, who served the University as sweeper, bed-maker and fire-builder from its reopening in 1875, died in Chapel Hill. Thousands of students had known him, and the University had given him an unofficial honorary degree at the 1922 commencement; after his Masonic funeral at his church, faculty, students and townspeople held a memorial service for him in Memorial Hall, where President Frank P. Graham and the student body president spoke. People: Frank Porter GrahamThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 24, 1936, p. 5
  31. Professor W. B. Sanders urges President Graham to give the Black janitors paid vacations Sanders wrote that the university preached fair dealing on race while giving its janitors no vacation at all, and proposed two weeks with pay. By 1940 the Janitors' Association counted a paid week of vacation among its gains. People: Frank Porter GrahamSixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 19
  32. Library janitor Adolphus Clark describes the work of the University Janitors' Association In an article in the Weekly on November 10, 1939, Adolphus Clark, a University library janitor for 16 years, wrote that the association's 60 members worked on home conditions, care of the sick, community work, the schools and recreation, held monthly meetings with faculty lecturers and were admitted free to University events. He thanked the faculty members who had just bought land for a Black community center.The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 10, 1939, p. 1
  33. The Janitors' Association puts out the first issue of its newsletter The Voice of the Janitors' Association set out the group's aims and history and listed officers elected on April 2, 1940. It also reported banquets held at the Orange County Training School and gifts to that school and to Sedalia. People: Kennon CheekSixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 13 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, April 19, 1940, p. 5
  34. The University's Black janitors take an option on the Creel place for a home-owning colony On behalf of the University's Black janitors, the Service Employees' Corporation took a $3,000 option on the old Creel place, about 40 acres just outside the western town limits beyond the University laundry, where the janitors hoped to own homes with vegetable gardens instead of paying rent. Some University officials were helping them look for a way to finance it.The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 10, 1940, p. 1
  35. W. C. Coker lends the money to buy land for a home colony for Black University workers Plans for homes for the University's Black janitors and other Black employees on the 40-acre old Creel place advanced: W. C. Coker provided at low interest the $3,000 for the land, a lender arranged through University officials agreed to advance 95 per cent of building costs, and engineer Ralph M. Trimble had nearly finished laying out streets and lots of at least half an acre. Owners were to do the ditching, grading and landscaping themselves and pay off $1,500 to $1,700 houses in 15 years for about what they paid in rent. People: William Chambers Coker, Ralph M. TrimbleThe Chapel Hill Weekly, May 31, 1940, p. 1
  36. Black University janitors move into the first houses of the Knolls home colony Six five-room houses were finished and occupied in Knolls, a colony for the University's Black janitors on the old Creel place beyond the laundry near the west end of Cameron Avenue, where a 40-acre tract held sites for 60 homes. The janitors' own committee chose the buyers, the FHA financed the houses at about $17.50 a month for 25 years, and John Clark, janitor of the South Building, was the first to move in.The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 1, 1941, p. 1
  37. The Janitors' Association reorganizes as a CIO union local The Janitors' Association became Local 403-P of the State, County and Municipal Workers of America, a CIO union. Minutes of July 2, 1942 name pay as the most important matter, and laundry worker Rebecca Clark became a shop steward. People: Rebecca ClarkReclaiming the University of the People: Cheek-Clark Building
  38. University laundry workers reject a piece-work plan and demand a wage increase Meeting by shifts, the laundry workers turned down the university's offer of piece rates with no assured raise. Their union wrote that it would take the matter to President Graham within a week if nothing changed. People: Rebecca Clark, L. B. RogersonSixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 29
  39. Pharmacy students and friends set a gravestone for George McCauley A granite stone paid for by students, teachers, alumni and friends of the University's School of Pharmacy was set at the grave of George McCauley, the school's longtime Black janitor, in the Hickory Grove church cemetery about five miles west of Chapel Hill. The money was left over from a fund they had raised for his support in old age.The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 14, 1943, p. 3
  40. CIO Local 403 demands vacations for janitors and equal pay for women campus workers The union protested a ruling that cut vacations for hourly janitors and asked for ten days of sick leave for laundry workers. It also asked that women in campus buildings be paid the same as men for nearly the same work.Sixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 31
  41. Black laundry workers take complaints of racial pay discrimination to the Fair Employment Practice Committee Press operators Bessie Hargraves and Etta Guthrie said white folders earned more because of race. At President Graham's request the personnel officer investigated, and his memo denied that race set the pay. People: Frank Porter GrahamSixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 37
  42. University laundry workers stage a sit-down strike The workers, some earning thirty-five cents an hour, stopped work on their own and set a further strike for October 14. Student Martin Watkins reported it to President Graham and to trustee Josephus Daniels. People: Frank Porter Graham, Josephus DanielsSixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 41
  43. Local 403 petitions for student support in a campaign over university wages After the legislature approved a 20 percent raise for state employees and the university dropped a wartime bonus, Local 403 workers circulated petitions and flyers asking students for support. Under shop steward Rebecca Clark laundry workers won wage increases, safer workspaces and better schedules. People: Rebecca ClarkReclaiming the University of the People: Cheek-Clark Building
  44. The State Personnel Department begins classifying the university's lowest-paid jobs Under the State Personnel Act of 1949, the survey started with the lowest-paid categories. The chancellor and business manager told supervisors to head off rumors and fears among workers and to hold back raises until it was done.Sixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 53
  45. The university counts its Black employees after federal contracts bar job discrimination Asked by the chancellor and business manager, the personnel office surveyed each department and found 853 Black workers, most of them in low-paid unskilled jobs.Sixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 63
  46. Hubert S. Robinson retires from Morehead Planetarium after more than 30 years with the university Fellow workers gave a surprise party for Hubert S. Robinson, a charter employee of Morehead Planetarium, on his last day of work before retiring after more than 30 years with the university. He had just been elected to a third term on the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen. People: Hubert RobinsonThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 6, 1961, p. 10
  47. Fanny McDade, laundress to generations of students, is buried at 103 in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Fanny McDade (1861-1964), an African American woman who did students' laundry for many years, died at 103 and is thought to be the oldest person buried in the cemetery.NC State Historic Preservation Office: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, National Register nomination (OR0496), p. 23
  48. A Committee of Janitors asks the university for a hearing on treatment by supervisors The janitors said they did not mind the work but wanted supervisors to speak to them with respect, and they listed grievances over leave and vacations. In late June Professor H. M. Blaylock had written Chancellor Paul F. Sharp about poor treatment, low pay and blocked promotions for Black employees. People: Paul F. SharpSixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 62
  49. Black Student Movement calls on Black students and university workers to stay away in mourning for King The Black Student Movement handed sheets to Black university employees asking them to stay home on April 9 in mourning for Martin Luther King Jr., saying the university had done too little to honor him. Chancellor Sitterson let non-academic employees who wished it take a half day off. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson, Preston DobbinsSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, April 9, 1968, p. 1
  50. The university puts its hourly workers on a forty-hour week Business officers had warned in 1957 that the change would come. The packet says the university finally made it in 1969.Sixty Years of Struggle: A Documented History of Housekeepers at U.N.C. (1996), scan p. 51
  51. UNC food workers' strike On February 23, 1969 food service workers at UNC's Lenoir Hall left their counters and sat down at the cafeteria tables, and by the next morning nearly 100 dining hall employees had refused to report for work. The strike ended on March 21 when the University agreed to raise the hourly minimum from $1.60 to $1.80, pay roughly $180,000 in back wages, and appoint a Black supervisor. People: Mary Smith, Elizabeth Brooks, J. Carlyle Sitterson, Robert W. Scott, Julius L. Chambers, Preston DobbinsUNC Libraries: Foodworkers' Strike, I Raised My Hand To Volunteer
  52. UNC foodworkers strike a second time About 250 of UNC's 275 cafeteria workers, organized as the UNC Non-Academic Employees Union, struck SAGA Food Services on November 7, 1969 over pay, job reclassification, and the firing of workers for union activity. They voted on November 21 to affiliate with AFSCME, and the strike was settled in December after Ralph Abernathy visited the strikers and Black students from across the state threatened to converge on the campus. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson, Mary Smith, Elizabeth BrooksUNC Libraries: Foodworkers' Strike, I Raised My Hand To Volunteer
  53. The Black Faculty/Staff Caucus publishes a position paper on Black staff The caucus's second position paper found that only 7 of 179 UNC staff in the top executive and managerial category were Black in 1981, against 2 of 108 in 1976, and criticized the grievance procedure for state employees. Chaired by social work professor Audreye Johnson, the caucus met with Chancellor Fordham afterward.Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), November 18, 1982, p. 1
  54. UNC Housekeepers organize for pay and respect UNC housekeepers formed the Housekeepers Association in 1991 and brought a class-action discrimination suit against the University over pay, advancement and treatment. Led by Marsha Tinnen and Barbara Prear, they signed a settlement with UNC on November 26, 1996, that brought raises, a career training program and monthly meetings with administrators.The Daily Tar Heel, November 27, 1996, p. 1: UNC, Housekeepers near end of legal battle
  55. The University Laundry is renamed for housekeeping leaders Kennon Cheek and Rebecca Clark On January 28, 1998 the trustees voted to rename the 1920s University Laundry for Kennon Cheek and Rebecca Clark, who led campus housekeepers in the 1930s and 1940s. The building was rededicated on September 17, 1998. People: Rebecca Clark, Kennon CheekNames in Brick and Stone: Histories from UNC's Built Landscape: Cheek Clark Building
  56. UNC Libraries opens the exhibit Slavery and the Making of the University University archivists mounted an exhibit on the enslaved and free Black people who built and served the early university, including cabinetmaker Thomas Day and poet George Moses Horton. People: George Moses Horton, Thomas DayUNC University Library: Slavery and the Making of the University: Celebrating Our Unsung Heroes, Bond and Free
  57. The Unsung Founders Memorial is dedicated in McCorkle Place The Class of 2002's gift, a black granite table held up by 300 bronze figures by artist Do-Ho Suh, honors the people of color, bond and free, who helped build the university. People: Do-Ho SuhDocumenting the American South (Commemorative Landscapes): Unsung Founders, Bond and Free
  58. University Archives publishes the names of 119 enslaved people who built and worked at the university Drawing on research by archivists, historians and students in Jim Leloudis's fall 2017 History 398 class, the archives listed 119 enslaved people who built and labored at the university from 1795 to 1865, including November Caldwell and David Barham.UNC University Archives (For the Record): The Names of the Enslaved People who Built the University of North Carolina
  59. Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz formally charges the Commission on History, Race and a Way Forward The commission, formed in 2019 and co-chaired by Jim Leloudis and Patricia Parker, was charged with researching the university's history with race and recommending how to reckon with it. People: Kevin M. GuskiewiczUNC Commission on History, Race and a Way Forward: About the Commission
  60. Exhibit honoring housekeeping and facilities staff opens in the renovated Cheek-Clark Building A lobby exhibit in the renovated Kennon Cheek and Rebecca Clark Building presents the lives of Cheek, Clark and groundskeeper William Hubbard with a timeline of the university's housekeeping and facilities work. People: Rebecca Clark, Kennon CheekUNC-Chapel Hill: Exhibit in renovated Cheek Clark Building honors Carolina staff
  61. The history and race commission holds a public webinar on the Unsung Founders Memorial The Commission on History, Race and a Way Forward opened a two-part webinar series, Unsung Founders Memorial: Past and Present, with members of the Class of 2002 committee and statements from artist Do Ho Suh. People: Do-Ho SuhUNC Commission on History, Race and a Way Forward: Unsung Founders Memorial: Past and Present (Webinar I)

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 12 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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  • University YMCA University schools and programs · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
  • Venable Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

All places and the county map →

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

Filter these works by material, period, or place. Counts refer to works, not individual copies. A work may appear under more than one period or place.

Material

Histories 11Biography 3Periodicals 2Photographs & portraits 2Letters & correspondence 1other types 4

Period

18th century 219th century 10Civil War (1861–1865) 2Reconstruction (1865–1877) 120th century 8

Place

Chapel Hill 19North Carolina (statewide) 18Orange County 6Hillsborough 2

Oral history interview with Rebecca Clark, June 21, 2000: interview K-0536, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Clark, Rebecca · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Interview recorded June 21, 2000 with Rebecca Clark (1915-2009), a Black Chapel Hill resident, for the Southern Oral History Program at UNC. Clark, educated in Chapel Hill's segregated schools, describes working life under segregation and the economic discrimination she met in it. Topics also include Lincoln High School, school integration, and Howard Lee, elected mayor of Chapel Hill in 1969. Interview K-0536 in collection #4007.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

NC Cardinal UNC

Sketch of the Life and Character of Wilson Caldwell

Battle, Kemp Plummer · 1895 · University Press Co. Print

Kemp Plummer Battle's eight-page sketch of the life and character of Wilson Caldwell (1841-1898), a Black employee of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Printed in Chapel Hill by the University Press Company in 1895 with a portrait. Battle, a former president of the university, wrote it during Caldwell's lifetime.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina (1793-1962) -- Employees -- Biography.

Duke NC Cardinal Library of Congress UNC

20th anniversary of the historic UNC housekeepers' agreement.

2016 · The Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History

Commemorative booklet from the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History marking twenty years since the UNC housekeepers' agreement. Sixteen unnumbered pages with illustrations, facsimiles and portraits, published at Chapel Hill in 2016. Topics include the UNC Housekeepers Association, labor unions among housekeepers, and discrimination in employment at the university.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

UNC

Rebecca Clark : the emergence of an unlikely leader in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1941-1969

Demby, Katherine Elizabeth · 2010

Katherine Elizabeth Demby traces the public life of Rebecca Clark, an African American activist in Chapel Hill who lived from 1915 to 2009, across the years 1941 to 1969. Seventy seven leaves, written in 2010. Topics include African American women political activists in Chapel Hill, twentieth century town politics and employment at the University of North Carolina.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

UNC

I raised my hand to volunteer : students protest in 1960s Chapel Hill.

2007 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Account of student protest in 1960s Chapel Hill, published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007 with illustrations. It draws together the civil rights movement and segregation in the town, discrimination in restaurants, academic freedom and university autonomy, protest against the Vietnam War, Students for a Democratic Society and the Black Student Movement on campus.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

UNC

Sixty years of struggle : a documented history of housekeepers at U.N.C.

1996 · UNC Housekeepers Association

Documentary history of the housekeeping staff at the University of North Carolina, put together in 1996 by the UNC Housekeepers Association from records in the University Archive, with Alan McSurely credited as compiler. Seventy-eight unnumbered pages of facsimiles reproduce correspondence, including letters of Frank Porter Graham, covering six decades of employment and pay disputes at Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

UNC
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The working poor : living the American nightmare : a case study of the UNC housekeeper's movement

Baumann, C. Christopher · 1993

C. Christopher Baumann's 1993 case study of the housekeepers' movement at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the campaign by campus housekeeping staff over pay and treatment. The subtitle calls them the working poor living the American nightmare. Topics include employee rights in Chapel Hill and poor people in North Carolina. Ninety-two pages, with a bibliography of six leaves.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

UNC

The coming of consciousness : UNC food workers' strikes, 1969

Meroney, Millicent · 1986

Millicent Meroney's 1986 Duke honors paper on the 1969 strikes by food service workers at the University of North Carolina, an episode in the town's race relations and its civil rights history. Eighty leaves of typescript with a bibliography, covering labor unions in food service, the strikes and lockouts themselves, and university employees at Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

Duke

Office of Chancellor : Michael Hooker records, 1995-1999.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Office of the Chancellor · 1995

Chancellor Michael Hooker's records at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about 42,000 items in 52.5 linear feet dated 1995 to 1999, in the University Archives at UNC, 40026. Educational technology in Chapel Hill is among the subjects, together with campus and curriculum planning, fund raising, public relations and public service, employees and race relations, and the social life of students.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

UNC

Report to the chancellor on efforts to improve pay and working conditions for UNC-CH housekeepers : December 17, 1993

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · 1993 · The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Eight page report to the chancellor, dated December 17, 1993, on efforts to improve pay and working conditions for housekeepers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Topics include housekeepers' employment and salaries in Chapel Hill and university employee pay generally. A brief administrative document on campus labor in the early 1990s.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees -- Salaries, etc.

UNC

Marsha Tinnen's Housekeepers Association collection, 1991-2003.

Tinnen, Marsha · 1991

Marsha Tinnen assembled this material on the UNC Housekeepers Association, 1991 to 2003, roughly fifty items, part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5712-z. Topics include housekeepers and labor unions in Chapel Hill, the living wage movement, community organization in North Carolina, university employees, and the name of Jesse Jackson.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees.

UNC

Office of Chancellor : Paul Hardin records, 1988-1995.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Office of the Chancellor · 1988

Records from the chancellorship of Paul Hardin III at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about 76,800 items in ninety six linear feet covering 1988 to 1995, in the University Archives at UNC, 40025. Topics include African American students and the Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center, race relations on campus, janitors and other employees, fund raising, and curriculum and campus planning.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- Employees -- History -- 20th century.

UNC

Search all 28 indexed works →

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this storyline. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled. Books marked Wider context cover the broader subject rather than this storyline itself.

  • Foundational · 371.009 MOORE The Impact of Slavery on the Education of Blacks in Orange County, North Carolina 1619-1970 Moore, Rosetta Austin · 2015

    Rosetta Austin Moore's survey of Black education in Orange County from the colonial era to 1970, in a revised edition published in 2015 through Lulu in Morrisville. After chapters on slavery nationally and on schooling for enslaved people in North Carolina, the book turns to the county: its formation, the growth of its schools, the arrival of free public schooling for all, and the schools and African American educators of the twentieth century. 265 pages with maps, portraits and facsimiles.

  • Foundational · NC 975.656 HISTORIC Antebellum Hillsborough, Slavery, and Enslaved and Free People of Color Who Worked at the Burwell School, 1837-1857 Historic Hillsborough Commission (Hillsborough, N.C.) · 2019

    The Historic Hillsborough Commission's account of slavery in antebellum Hillsborough and of the enslaved and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School, the female school the Burwells kept in town, between 1837 and 1857. African American history in Hillsborough and the school's own history are its two threads. Published in 2019.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC BIO SWAIN WHI A Consequential Life: David Lowry Swain, Nineteenth-century North Carolina, and Their University Whichard, Willis P. · 2022

    Willis P. Whichard's biography of David Lowry Swain, governor of North Carolina from 1832 to 1835 and president of the University of North Carolina from 1835 until his death in 1868. The subtitle ties Swain, nineteenth-century North Carolina and the university together, and the book belongs with the lives of college presidents and governors. Published in 2022.

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  • Wider context · NC 306.362 KAY Slavery in North Carolina, 1748-1775 Kay, Marvin L. Michael · 1995

    Marvin L. Michael Kay and Lorin Lee Cary's study of slavery and enslaved people in North Carolina in the decades before the Revolution, 1748 to 1775, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1995. The xv and 402 pages include maps, illustrations, some seventy pages of notes and sources, and an index.

  • Wider context · NC 975.6 HIL Toward Freedom for All: North Carolina Quakers and Slavery Hilty, Hiram H. · 1984

    Hiram H. Hilty's account of North Carolina Quakers and slavery, following the Friends' antislavery movement and their church's stand on slaveholding, chiefly in the nineteenth century. Friends United Press of Richmond, Indiana, published it in 1984; 158 pages with maps, a bibliography and an index.

  • Wider context · NC 920 BAS Anti-slavery Leaders of North Carolina Bassett, John Spencer · 1971

    John Spencer Bassett's study of North Carolinians who opposed slavery, first issued in 1898 in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. An opening chapter on the western counties and the Quakers of Guilford and Randolph is followed by sketches of Hinton Rowan Helper, Daniel Reaves Goodloe, Eli Washington Caruthers, Lunsford Lane, and Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, the Chapel Hill chemistry professor dismissed in 1856 for supporting Frémont. Reprinted in 1971, 74 pages.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 920 CON Ante-bellum Builders of North Carolina Connor, R. D. W. · 1971

    Four men who shaped North Carolina before the Civil War are the subjects of these lectures by R. D. W. Connor: Archibald Murphey and his plans for schools and internal improvements, David Swain and the constitutional reform of 1835, Calvin Wiley and the common schools, and John Morehead and the railroads. Delivered and published in 1914 at the State Normal and Industrial College; reprinted in 1971 from the 1930 edition, 123 pages.

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Picture: The monument to Wilson Swain Caldwell in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, placed by the class of 1891. CC0. Photograph by Mx. Granger; via Wikimedia Commons

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