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Storyline

The Chapel Hill civil-rights demonstrations, 1963–1964

Sit-ins, marches, and mass arrests over segregated businesses, from the summer of 1963 through the Holy Week Fast of 1964.

In briefMarches, sit-ins and arrests over segregated businesses from 1963 into 1964, the aldermen's refusal of a public accommodations ordinance, the Holy Week fast, and the Watts Restaurant protests and the Klopfer speedy-trial case that grew out of them.

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91 works about The Chapel Hill civil-rights demonstrations, 1963–1964 are indexed here. 1 held at OCPL →

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Watts Motel and Restaurant on the highway south of Chapel Hill
Watts Motel and Restaurant on the highway south of Chapel Hill

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 62 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Floyd McKissick sends organizers to Chapel Hill and defends arrested demonstrators As head of CORE's Durham office, McKissick sent organizer Quinton Baker to Chapel Hill in 1963 to teach nonviolence and demonstration tactics, and he acted as attorney for many demonstrators arrested there. Letters to him in 1964 include one written from the Orange County jail. People: John Dunne, Quinton BakerSearch the index · UNC Libraries: I Raised My Hand to Volunteer, Documents and Photographs
  2. James Brittian is expelled from Lincoln High School after a civil rights march Brittian, a student at the segregated Lincoln High School, was expelled for taking part in a civil rights protest march. He then became chairman of the Student Commission, a branch of the Chapel Hill Freedom Commission.Search the index · The Daily Tar Heel, February 25, 1993, p. 1 (NAACP activist still fighting racism)
  3. Student pickets begin marching outside the segregated College Cafe The Student Peace Union and the NAACP put pickets in front of the segregated College Cafe on East Franklin Street, saying they would keep on until it integrated. The picketing led to the forming of the Committee for Open Business that May.The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 7, 1963, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 22, 1963, p. 1
  4. A man swings at a College Cafe picket and escapes from police custody Police Lt. C. E. King saw a Carrboro man walk up to one of the pickets outside the segregated College Cafe and swing at him; the blow missed and struck the picket's sign. The man broke away from the lieutenant on the way to the police station and was still being sought a week later.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 18, 1963, p. 1
  5. NAACP chapter pickets North Carolina Memorial Hospital over segregated rooms and wards The UNC chapter of the NAACP organized a picket in April 1963 to protest that private rooms and certain wards for Black patients at the hospital were still segregated, although outpatient clinics, recovery rooms, pediatrics and the cafeteria had been integrated. Hospital officials opposed the demonstration.The Daily Tar Heel, April 6, 1963, p. 1
  6. A Chapel Hill court postpones The Patio trespass trial after the Supreme Court's sit-in rulings The day after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed sit-in convictions, the court continued the trial of two UNC students, one white and one Black, charged with trespass when they refused the manager's order to leave The Patio during a senior class party. It waited on further word about how the ruling affected North Carolina's trespass law.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 23, 1963, p. 1
  7. More than 300 people march through downtown Chapel Hill against segregated businesses More than 300 Black and white marchers carrying signs paraded through downtown Chapel Hill for about an hour at Saturday noon. The News described it as a stepped-up drive against racial discrimination by private businesses.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 30, 1963, p. 1
  8. Chapel Hill aldermen declare a town policy against racial discrimination The Board of Aldermen unanimously resolved that race played no part in the use of town facilities, town services or town hiring. It also asked the mayor to head a committee to work for an end to discrimination by private businesses, as the Human Relations Committee had recommended. People: Sandy McClamrochThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 30, 1963, p. 3
  9. Mayor McClamroch's Integration Committee adopts a four-point program At its first meeting the 12-member committee headed by Mayor Sandy McClamroch agreed to press businesses to drop segregation, to study the town's power over privilege licenses, to bring cases to other authorities and to look into a public accommodations ordinance. The mayor said one more restaurant would admit Black patrons the next week, leaving about half a dozen eating places serving whites only. People: Sandy McClamroch, Hubert Robinson, Paul W. WagerThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 30, 1963, p. 3
  10. The Committee for Open Business presses Chapel Hill merchants to desegregate The Committee for Open Business grew out of a Student Peace Union boycott of 13 segregated Chapel Hill restaurants and first met in early May 1963 to coordinate students and townspeople. On July 19 its sit-in at the Merchants Association office on West Franklin Street ended with 34 arrests.The Daily Tar Heel, May 2, 1963, p. 1
  11. Aldermen hear Daniel Pollitt's opinion that Chapel Hill may pass a public accommodations law, then shelve it At a Town Hall hearing attended by more than 200 people, Mayor Sandy McClamroch read an opinion by Pollitt that Chapel Hill had the authority to enact a public accommodations ordinance and that similar laws elsewhere had withstood court tests. The Board of Aldermen then voted 4 to 2 to postpone the ordinance indefinitely. People: Sandy McClamrochSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, June 27, 1963, p. 1 (Accommodations Proposal Postponed Indefinitely)
  12. The Mayor's Integration Committee turns to a public accommodations ordinance after businesses refuse to desegregate The committee reported that the Colonial Drug Store, Leo's Grill, Clarence's, The Shack, Brady's, The Pines, The Patio and the Tar Heel Sandwich shop showed little or no inclination to change their segregation policies, and its members agreed they had exhausted persuasion before recommending a public accommodations ordinance. It also wrote to three motels and asked the school board about its plans for the all-Black Northside, Frank Porter Graham and Lincoln schools. People: Sandy McClamrochThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 13, 1963, p. 7
Show all 62 dated events
  1. A Committee for Open Business mass meeting authorizes nonviolent direct action At a mass meeting, the Committee for Open Business authorized its executive committee to use nonviolent direct action, the same day Mayor Sandy McClamroch accepted the committee's request for a businessmen's committee to negotiate desegregation. According to the Conscience, businessman George Coxhead had first suggested such a committee on July 7, and the Rev. Tom Davis formally submitted it to the mayor on July 8. People: Sandy McClamrochThe Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 4
  2. A Chapel Hill repair shop owner turns away Black customers in protest against the demonstrations James B. Botsford of Hillsboro, owner of a radio and television repair service in Chapel Hill, announced that he would not serve Black customers until the integration demonstrations stopped, saying he had served everyone alike until then. A letter writer answered by urging the aldermen to pass a public accommodations ordinance at once.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 18, 1963, p. 23
  3. Five hundred people join a freedom march through downtown Chapel Hill About 500 people, many clergymen and faculty members among them, joined a Committee for Open Business freedom march through the Chapel Hill business district, halting traffic while they sang two songs downtown. The Conscience called it the largest march since the demonstrations began on May 25 and reported catcalls and insults from onlookers but no incidents.The Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 3
  4. A new businessmen's committee turns down the Committee for Open Business's truce proposal A businessmen's committee newly appointed to settle Chapel Hill's racial dispute rejected a Committee for Open Business proposal to stop all demonstrations except picketing for a week, extended if at least three segregated businesses opened to all. According to the Conscience, Mayor Sandy McClamroch, who had accepted the proposal on July 15, said his acceptance had been premature, and the businessmen would accept nothing short of a permanent halt to the push for a public accommodations law. People: Sandy McClamrochThe Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 3
  5. The Committee for Open Business begins spot picketing of segregated businesses Members of the Committee for Open Business began surprise spot picketing at seven of Chapel Hill's fourteen segregated businesses, among them the Pines, Brady's, Botsford's TV, Clarence's, Leo's, the Shack and the Tar Heel Sandwich Shop, to strengthen the general boycott. The same day about 130 marchers changed the route of the weekly Wednesday demonstration, marching down Franklin Street to the post office instead of stopping at the Colonial Drug Store.The Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 4
  6. The Committee for Open Business holds workshops in nonviolent civil disobedience The Committee for Open Business ran a series of workshops in nonviolent civil disobedience in July 1963, and Pat Cusick reported good attendance and morale at the sixth session on July 18, the day before the Merchants Bureau sit-in. An NAACP field worker from North Carolina College, who came at the committee's request, helped organize the workshops and trained members in nonviolent methods until he left on August 9. People: Pat CusickThe Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 5
  7. Police carry out demonstrators sitting in at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Merchants Association office Members of the Committee for Open Business sat in and sang in the Merchants Association office on West Franklin Street to press merchants to desegregate. Police carried out 27 on trespass warrants signed by director Joe Augustine, and 34 were arrested that day in all. People: Harold Foster, Pat CusickThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 21, 1963, p. 3 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 15, 1963, p. 3
  8. 382 people march in support of the jailed sit-in demonstrators A day after 34 demonstrators were arrested at the Chapel Hill Merchants Bureau and refused bail, 382 people by individual count marched through the business district in their support and stopped to sing at the jail for fifteen minutes. By late that night 25 of the jailed had been released on bail put up by local Black businessmen and one faculty member.The Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 5
  9. A Town Hall meeting of civic leaders reaches a truce with the Committee for Open Business About 70 of Chapel Hill's leading citizens from some twelve organizations met privately at Town Hall at the mayor's call, with the Rev. Loren Mead of the Mayor's Committee on Human Relations presiding, and reached a tentative agreement with the Committee for Open Business. The committee halted demonstrations, civil disobedience and picketing until August 1 while businessmen began negotiations, and the owner of Botsford Radio and TV ended his refusal to serve Black customers. People: Hilliard CaldwellThe Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 6
  10. A petition with 1,080 signatures for a public accommodations law goes to the Chapel Hill aldermen The Committee for Open Business presented a partly completed petition of 1,080 signatures urging the Board of Aldermen to pass a public accommodations ordinance, and the aldermen voted to ask the university's Institute of Government for information on such a law. By the end of July, the Conscience reported, more than 1,300 Black and white residents had signed in a door-to-door campaign directed by the Rev. Tom Davis.The Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 6
  11. No businessmen attend the second truce meeting with the Committee for Open Business No businessmen or merchant officials came to the second scheduled meeting between the Committee for Open Business and other concerned groups during the July truce, where the businessmen's committee's first progress report was due. The Conscience reported that the committee was negotiating with at least two segregated businesses, but optimism about the truce fell sharply.The Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 2
  12. The Chapel Hill Conscience begins publication The Chapel Hill Conscience, a free paper of the movement against Chapel Hill's segregated businesses, issued its first number after postponements from July 19 and July 24. Planned to appear every two weeks, it set out to give readers its own account of the Committee for Open Business's actions, and by its second issue in August it called itself the organ of CURED.The Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 1
  13. Nearly 200 university faculty members back a public accommodations law in a paid advertisement Almost 200 members of the university faculty, including law school dean Henry Brandis Jr., placed a paid advertisement in the Chapel Hill Weekly supporting a public accommodations ordinance for Chapel Hill. The Mayor's Human Relations Committee and the Mayor's Committee on Integration had already recommended that the law require all Chapel Hill businesses to serve all orderly persons regardless of race.The Chapel Hill Conscience, July 31, 1963, p. 1
  14. Mayor McClamroch proclaims nondiscrimination the official policy of Chapel Hill The mayor proclaimed that the town would not recognize or sanction racial discrimination in its services, hiring or facilities, and advised private businesses, including any later annexed or newly opened, that they would be expected to follow the same policy. People: Sandy McClamrochThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 8, 1963, p. 7
  15. Opponents of a public accommodations law give the Chapel Hill aldermen about 870 signatures Druggist John Carswell presented cards and petitions against a public accommodations ordinance, saying such a law would be illegal. Town officials found 725 identifiable names, 130 of them town residents and 45 registered town voters, a check The News set beside its count of the earlier petition in favor.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 15, 1963, p. 4
  16. Pat Cusick leads a CURED march down West Franklin Street Sixty-eight members of Citizens United for Racial Equality and Dignity, led by Pat Cusick, marched from St. Joseph's Church on West Rosemary Street down West Franklin Street to the Carolina Grill on a Friday night, singing a few songs. A street march to the post office was planned for the next day.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 25, 1963, p. 3 (CURED Marches On West Franklin)
  17. The Committee for Open Business's boycott list grows to eighteen Chapel Hill establishments The Conscience's list of Chapel Hill businesses to boycott for racial discrimination grew from thirteen at the end of July to eighteen by late August, adding Watt's Motel, the Carolina Grill, Merritt's Esso Service, Allen's Lunch Counter and Walker's Gulf station. Its editorial said the truce negotiations had failed and that five more businesses had been found to discriminate.The Chapel Hill Conscience, August 24, 1963, p. 1
  18. George Esser proposes an ordinance barring discrimination by new Chapel Hill businesses After the aldermen declined a public accommodations law in June, Esser suggested as a private citizen an ordinance that would bar racial discrimination by businesses opening in the future, applied like zoning rules. The Board of Aldermen began considering it in August while the Committee for Open Business kept up its marches.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 11, 1963, p. 1
  19. Recorder's Court convicts most of the Merchants Bureau sit-in demonstrators Judge Stewart of the Chapel Hill Recorder's Court found most of the demonstrators arrested at the July 19 Merchants Bureau sit-in guilty and fined them, after solicitor Roy Cole refused to honor the truce agreement to drop the charges. According to the Conscience, the police chief and the Merchants Bureau director had said they would not press charges, and the court broke with its usual practice of not convicting when the injured party withdrew.The Chapel Hill Conscience, August 24, 1963, p. 3
  20. The aldermen send a proposed ban on discrimination by new businesses to the Governor's committee of mayors Instead of enacting a proposal to bar racial discrimination by all future businesses in Chapel Hill, the Board of Aldermen passed it on to the Governor's committee of mayors, according to the Conscience, which called the move a way to sidestep the issue. The mayor also declared that the town's official policy opposed racial discrimination.The Chapel Hill Conscience, August 24, 1963, p. 3
  21. Orange Superior Court convicts Pat Cusick and three others for the Merchants Association sit-in A jury in Orange Superior Court at Hillsborough convicted Pat Cusick and three other demonstrators of trespass for the July sit-in at the Merchants Association office. Cusick chose 30 days on the roads over paying the fine and fasted 17 days in protest at being placed in a segregated prison camp. People: Floyd B. McKissickSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 15, 1963, p. 1
  22. Karen Parker is arrested at a sit-in at Leo's restaurant Parker, UNC's first Black woman undergraduate and a CORE member, went with other demonstrators to Leo's, a segregated restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill, where they were arrested and taken to jail. She described it in her diary entry of December 18.Search the index · UNC University Archives, History on the Hill: Karen Parker: A Woman to Remember
  23. Nearly 200 attend an Inter-Church Council forum on Chapel Hill's racial situation Almost 200 people came to an open forum on race relations in Chapel Hill, sponsored by the Inter-Church Council for Social Service, at the Episcopal Church parish house on Sunday afternoon, December 29. Town officials committed there to take the tabled public accommodations ordinance up again at the aldermen's January 13 meeting.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 2, 1964, p. 1
  24. John Dunne gives up his Morehead scholarship to work in the Chapel Hill movement By December 1963 John Dunne had left his studies, given up his Morehead scholarship, which he objected to as segregationist, and turned to the Freedom Movement in Chapel Hill full time. He joined the Congress of Racial Equality and led protests at segregated restaurants.Search the index · UNC Libraries: John B. Dunne Papers (#4391), 1943-1984
  25. Sit-in demonstrators at the Rock Pile are doused with ammonia Around New Year's Day 1964, sit-in demonstrators at the Rock Pile, Carlton Mize's segregated grocery on the Durham Road, were doused with ammonia and bleach water. Seven were treated for burns, among them NAACP youth leader Quinton Baker; four were arrested, and thirteen more were arrested at a second sit-in there the next day, when five more needed treatment. People: John Dunne, Quinton BakerThe Daily Tar Heel, January 7, 1964, p. 1 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 23, 1964, p. 2
  26. Realtors steer Howard and Lillian Lee away from white subdivisions After moving to Chapel Hill for graduate study, Howard and Lillian Lee searched for about six months while realtors hesitated to show them houses in white subdivisions. They bought in Colony Woods, then received threatening calls and had a cross burned on their lawn. People: Howard N. LeeUNC Libraries, North Carolina Miscellany: May 1969: Howard Lee
  27. Watts Restaurant protests Sit-ins at the segregated Watts Restaurant and Motel on South Columbia Street began on January 2, 1964. Over the next days demonstrators were urinated on, hosed and struck with a broom handle, and Duke and UNC faculty were among those arrested. The owners held out after the Civil Rights Act and desegregated on July 10, 1964.The Daily Tar Heel, January 7, 1964, p. 1
  28. CORE members sit in at the Chapel Hill courtroom after the aldermen put off the accommodations ordinance After the aldermen's meeting on Monday night, January 13, sidetracked a public accommodations ordinance, about 35 CORE members refused to leave the Town Hall courtroom, and a group lay down on the front steps until about 2:30 a.m. No one was arrested, and four were still sitting in the courtroom on January 15.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 16, 1964, p. 1
  29. Chapel Hill aldermen vote down a public accommodations ordinance The Board of Aldermen rejected, 4 to 2, an ordinance that would have required all town businesses to serve Black customers, and set up a nine-member committee on race relations instead. Integration leaders promised more demonstrations. People: Adelaide WaltersThe Daily Tar Heel, January 14, 1964, p. 1
  30. Demonstrators block the entrances of the Chapel Hill police station in a lie-in On the night of January 18, demonstrators in the Chapel Hill civil rights campaign lay down across the entrances to the Chapel Hill police station. Twelve were arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and on January 28 their cases were bound over to Superior Court for jury trial.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 30, 1964, p. 7
  31. Institute of Government delivers its report on Chapel Hill's power to pass a public accommodations law A report prepared by George Esser at the aldermen's request, gathering cases from all fifty states on a town's power to pass a public accommodations law, was completed and handed to Town Manager Robert Peck for the aldermen days before their vote. Esser said it showed the probable attitude of North Carolina courts toward a town using its general welfare power for that purpose. People: John L. SandersIn the index: Institute of Government (Chapel Hill, N.C.) · The Daily Tar Heel, January 12, 1964, p. 1
  32. Thirty-nine demonstrators are arrested sitting on the steps of Brady's Restaurant On a Sunday night, 39 demonstrators, seven of them white, were arrested after sitting three deep on the front steps of the segregated Brady's Restaurant and blocking the door. The night before, 53 had been arrested in sit-downs in front of Brady's and the Rock Pile.The Daily Tar Heel, February 4, 1964, p. 1
  33. Chapel Hill aldermen vote to limit picketing to daytime hours On February 10 the Chapel Hill aldermen split 3 to 3 on Police Chief W. D. Blake's request to amend the 1960 picketing ordinance to allow picketing only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Mayor Sandy McClamroch broke the tie in favor. Opponents marched to the police station in protest, the mayor sent the question to the Human Relations Committee, and because the vote fell short of the two-thirds needed on first reading the change never took effect. People: Sandy McClamroch, Roland Giduz, Paul W. Wager, Hubert RobinsonThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 13, 1964, p. 4
  34. About 50 Lincoln High pupils walk out in a boycott calling for one merged high school On Friday, February 14, about 50 pupils walked out of Chapel Hill's all-Black Lincoln High School in a boycott sponsored by the Chapel Hill Freedom Committee, whose chairman John Dunne called Lincoln inferior and asked that it be merged with Chapel Hill Senior High. Superintendent Howard Thompson denied the charge point by point, and by the following Monday 25 pupils were still out. People: John DunneThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 20, 1964, p. 5
  35. Chapel Hill aldermen adopt a declaration on equal rights and opportunities On Monday, February 24, the Chapel Hill aldermen unanimously adopted a declaration on equal rights and opportunities drafted by the Human Relations Committee, which said the town had not yet gone all the way in ending racial discrimination. It committed the town to continued study, help for groups working on the problem, and a special study agency.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 27, 1964, p. 13
  36. Gloria Williams asks the school board to readmit boycotting Lincoln High students At the Chapel Hill school board meeting, Mrs. Gloria Williams, speaking for parents of students who had joined the Chapel Hill Freedom Committee's boycott of Lincoln High School, asked that all of them be readmitted. The board upheld the expulsion of two senior leaders, Henry Sanford and James Brittain, after Superintendent Howard Thompson said he would resign if they returned.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 27, 1964, p. 2
  37. A special Superior Court session opens at Hillsborough to try the Chapel Hill civil rights cases A three-week special criminal session of Orange County Superior Court, ordered by the Chief Justice, opened on March 2 under Judge Raymond Mallard to begin trying the more than 500 cases from the Chapel Hill demonstrations. Jurors came from a pool of 225, and the judge kept waiting jurors out of the courtroom so they would not hear the trials in progress.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 5, 1964, p. 1
  38. Federal court sends 217 Chapel Hill demonstrators' cases back to Orange County Superior Court On Friday, March 20, the federal court in Greensboro remanded to Orange County Superior Court the cases of 217 defendants from the Chapel Hill demonstrations, about 730 charges in all, which their lawyers had sought to move on the ground that they could not get a fair trial in state court. Defense attorney Moses L. Burt of Burlington said the lawyers had not decided their next step, and the cases went on the calendar for the special term beginning April 13.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 26, 1964, p. 1
  39. Chapel Hill citizens organize Community Action, Inc., for long-range work on race relations A new Chapel Hill organization for long-range work on race relations took the name Community Action, Inc., in late March, dropping its first choice, Community Progress, Inc., after its organizers saw a New Haven program of that name in the press. Under temporary chairman E. Maynard Adams it planned to seek the endorsement of the county commissioners, the Chapel Hill school board, the Merchants Association and the Carrboro town board. People: E. M (Elie Maynard) AdamsThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 26, 1964, p. 11
  40. Judge Mallard sentences fasters Pat Cusick and John Dunne to a year in jail In Orange County Superior Court at Hillsborough, Judge Raymond B. Mallard gave Pat Cusick a year in jail on April 23 and John Dunne twelve months on April 24 for the February street-blocking demonstrations, among a dozen active sentences and about 100 suspended ones that stripped the Chapel Hill movement of its leaders four weeks after the fast. People: Pat Cusick, John DunneThe Daily Tar Heel, April 24, 1964, p. 1
  41. More than 100 Chapel Hill demonstrators plead no contest in Orange Superior Court In the special term before Judge Raymond Mallard, more than 100 defendants from the winter's Chapel Hill demonstrations were convicted on pleas of no contest to street obstruction and resisting arrest. Most were given sentences suspended on payment of costs and on condition that they join no public demonstrations, while some leaders drew active jail terms.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 23, 1964, p. 12
  42. Chapel Hill's Mayor's Mediating Committee disbands as the civil rights bill passes The eight-member committee, chosen the winter before from the Chamber of Commerce, Merchants Association, University faculty and Ministerial Association to end racial discrimination in about two dozen Chapel Hill businesses, agreed unanimously to disband, holding that the new federal law left nothing to mediate. Mayor Sandy McClamroch said he would write the firms to remind them of the Town's policy against discrimination. People: Sandy McClamrochThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 9, 1964, p. 19
  43. The Civil Rights Act changes the legal ground for local integration The Civil Rights Act, signed on July 2, 1964, barred segregation in restaurants, hotels and theaters. Within a week, testers found eight of 13 previously segregated Chapel Hill-area businesses serving Black customers, while five, including a Franklin Street beer parlor, still refused.National Archives: Civil Rights Act (1964)
  44. Clarence's Bar and Grill turns away an integrated group the day after the Civil Rights Act Five white people and one Black person asked for service at Clarence's Bar and Grill on West Franklin Street. Owner Clarence Gray refused them, saying he thought one of them was drunk. Testers visited other Chapel Hill restaurants that weekend as well.The Daily Tar Heel, July 9, 1964, p. 7
  45. The owner of Watts Restaurant and his staff attack civil rights testers The night after the Civil Rights Act was signed, a mixed group of testers seeking service at Watts Restaurant was turned away and, the testers said, attacked with fists and clubs, and the owner was charged with striking one of them. He was convicted of assault in Chapel Hill Recorder's Court on July 21 and fined the costs of court.The Daily Tar Heel, July 9, 1964, p. 1 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, July 9, 1964, p. 7; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 23, 1964, p. 3
  46. Pat Cusick, John Dunne and Rosemary Ezra are paroled from their one-year sentences Chapel Hill demonstration leaders Pat Cusick, John Dunne and Rosemary Ezra were paroled after serving a quarter of the one-year sentences given them for misdemeanors in the 1963-64 protests. Cusick left Burke County Prison Camp on August 11 and went to a job in Boston, according to his Chapel Hill friends. People: Pat Cusick, John DunneThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 13, 1964, p. 1
  47. Defense lawyers file State Supreme Court appeals for eleven Chapel Hill civil rights defendants Attorneys C. C. Malone and Moses Burt filed the records of seven people convicted of protest offenses, most of them at the summer's special criminal terms for civil rights cases, with the North Carolina Supreme Court, and Durham attorney Wade Penny filed appeals for four Duke professors convicted of trespass in a January sit-in at Watts Grill. Three of the professors had jail sentences and one a $50 fine.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 26, 1964, p. 22
  48. Supreme Court hears Klopfer v. North Carolina The Supreme Court heard arguments in Peter Klopfer’s speedy-trial case, arising from an Orange County trespass prosecution. People: Peter H. KlopferJustia
  49. The U.S. Supreme Court decided Klopfer v. North Carolina, the speedy-trial case that grew out of a Chapel Hill sit-in arrest The Supreme Court applied the constitutional speedy-trial right to state prosecutions in Peter Klopfer’s case. People: Peter H. KlopferKlopfer v. North Carolina, 386 U.S. 213 (1967)
  50. Chapel Hill adopts North Carolina's first local open housing ordinance On second reading the Board of Aldermen passed the open housing ordinance 4 to 0, effective immediately, making it a misdemeanor for an owner to discriminate by religion, race, color or national origin in selling or renting property in town. The penalty was a fine of up to $50 or up to 30 days in jail. People: Sandy McClamroch, W. David EthridgeThe Daily Tar Heel, May 15, 1968, p. 1

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 6 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.

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

Biography 30Interviews 26Histories 18Photographs & portraits 6Periodicals 4other types 8

Period

20th century 24World War II era 1

Place

Chapel Hill 91North Carolina (statewide) 29Carrboro 6City of Durham (neighboring) 5Orange County 5Hillsborough 2

Brazen: Race, Gentrification, and the Path of My Own Life

Parrish, Theodore · 2025 · Chapel Hill Historical Society

Theodore Parrish's memoir of a Black life in Chapel Hill and of gentrification in the town, subtitled race, gentrification, and the path of my own life. Published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in August 2025, 243 pages with illustrations. Subjects include African Americans in Chapel Hill, race relations and gentrification in North Carolina.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

UNC

Courage in the Moment

Wallace, Jim · 2012 · Dover Publications

Jim Wallace photographed the civil rights movement in Chapel Hill in the early 1960s while on assignment there, and this 2012 Dover volume prints his pictures with text. Sections cover pickets, sit-ins and the police, the speaker ban, the March on Washington, mass protest and human chains, passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Ku Klux Klan's response and the movement's resolution, with a chronology and a 'where are they now' section. 109 pages, oblong format.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Library of Congress record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century -- Pictorial works.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke NC State NCCU Chapel Hill PL Durham Library of Congress CH Historical Society

Oral history interview with Charles M. Jones, November 8, 1976: interview B-0041, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Jones, Charles Miles · 2008 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

A longer Southern Oral History Program interview with Presbyterian minister Charles M. Jones (1906-1993), recorded November 8, 1976, by Joseph A. Herzenberg. Jones traces his civil rights work in Chapel Hill from the 1930s into the 1960s. He characterizes town and university leaders, Frank Porter Graham among them, as cautiously liberal on race, willing to allow a little integration at performances and student activities, and describes the church's place in the town's social conflicts. Published online in 2008 in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Pat Cusick, June 19, 1989: interview L-0043, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Cusick, Pat · 2008 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Pat Cusick, a civil rights worker in Chapel Hill during the 1960s, was interviewed by Pamela Dean in June 1989. He explains how his schooling and military service changed his thinking about race, his frustration with campus liberalism at UNC, and his turn to civil disobedience as a student organizer in the town. Topics include civil rights workers, college student political activity and race relations in Chapel Hill. About two and a half hours; electronic edition issued by the UNC library in 2008 through Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Quinton E. Baker, February 23, 2002: interview K-0838, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Baker, Quinton E. · 2008 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Quinton E. Baker, a Black gay man who took part in the Chapel Hill civil rights protests of the 1960s, was interviewed by Chris McGinnis in February 2002. He describes growing up under segregation with little contact with white people, an early awareness of his sexuality, and the way race and sexual identity together shaped his activism as a college student. About two and a half hours; electronic edition from the UNC library, 2008, through Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

I raised my hand to volunteer: students protest in 1960s Chapel Hill : an exhibit of the Manuscripts Department in the Wilson Library

Hollingsworth, Biff · 2007

Catalog of an exhibit mounted by the Manuscripts Department of Wilson Library from January 23 to May 31, 2007, on student protest in Chapel Hill during the 1960s. Topics include civil rights demonstrations, the Speaker Ban Law, the Black Student Movement, restaurant strikes and Vietnam War protests at the university. Compiled by Biff Hollingsworth, 59 pages with illustrations and facsimiles, published by the university library.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Civil rights movements -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill -- History -- 20th century -- Exhibitions.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke Library of Congress CH Historical Society
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Oral history interview with Charlene Regester, February 23, 2001: interview K-0216, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Regester, Charlene B. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Charlene Regester (born 1956) recalls being one of the first Black children to attend Chapel Hill's white elementary schools, in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded February 23, 2001, by Susan Upton. Her parents, convinced that integrated schools would give Black children better resources, petitioned for her transfer to Estes Hills Elementary, then all white, and Regester describes what those years were like for her. About 45 minutes. Published online in 2007 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, February 22, 2001: interview K-0215, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Pollitt, Daniel H. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

A separate interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, recorded February 22, 2001, by David Potorti for the Southern Oral History Program, 75 minutes long. Pollitt traces his liberal convictions on race and religion to a family of ministers, soldiers and lawyers, describes clerking for an appeals court judge, and recounts his part in the civil rights movement in Chapel Hill: opposition to local segregation, school integration in North Carolina, and student movements at the university. Published online in 2007 in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, November 19, 1990: interview L-0048, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Pollitt, Daniel H. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Law professor Daniel H. Pollitt remembers Anne Queen (1911-2005), director of UNC's Campus Y, in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded November 19, 1990, by Cindy Cheatham. Queen's commitment to social justice matched Pollitt's own work for racial equality and support of student activists, and he describes her Campus Y as the place where students concerned with civil rights in segregated Chapel Hill gathered and learned to organize. Published online in 2007 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Floyd B. McKissick, Sr., May 31, 1989: interview L-0040, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

McKissick, Floyd B. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Floyd B. McKissick, Sr. (1922-1991), later head of the Congress of Racial Equality, recalls his early life in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded May 31, 1989, by Bruce Kalk. McKissick recalls the racism he met growing up and while serving in the Army during World War II. The interview then turns to his law studies and his part in integrating UNC as one of the first Black students admitted to its law school. Published online in 2007 in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Fran Jackson, March 23, 2001: interview K-0208, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Jackson, Fran · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Fran Jackson recalls school integration in Chapel Hill as a student in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded March 23, 2001, by Christa Broadnax. Jackson began at Northside Elementary and moved to Guy B. Phillips, the integrated junior high, after her parents petitioned for the transfer. She explains that Black parents backed integration because it promised their children the resources the white schools had, and describes what the change meant socially for Black students. Published online in 2007 in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Sam Holton, March 28, 2001: interview K-0206, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Holton, Samuel M. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Samuel M. Holton (1922-2010) sat on Chapel Hill's school board during desegregation. Elected in 1968 after a term as PTA president, he took office as racial tension rose after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Talking with Jenny Matthews in March 2001, he describes the board's decisions on integrating the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and the conflicts that came with them. Runs about eighty minutes; electronic edition issued by the UNC library in 2007 through Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Chapel Hill (N.C.) -- Race relations.

NC Cardinal UNC

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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 · 323.423 CHA Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom Chafe, William Henry · 1980

    William H. Chafe's study of race relations and the Black freedom struggle in Greensboro, where the 1960 sit-ins at the Woolworth's lunch counter opened the protest phase of the civil rights movement. Chafe, a Duke University historian, treats the city's story as the nation's struggle with racism in small. Oxford University Press published it in 1980, 436 pages with illustrations, notes and an index; it won the first Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 1981.

  • Wider context · 323.119 GRE Our Separate Ways: Women and the Black Freedom Movement in Durham, North Carolina Greene, Christina · 2005

    Christina Greene's history of Black and white women in Durham's freedom movement, from the fight against Jim Crow in the 1940s through the protests of 1957 to 1963, neighborhood organizing among poor residents, the War on Poverty, Black Power politics and a boycott. Revised from her 1996 Duke doctoral thesis, it was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2005; 366 pages with bibliography and index.

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Sources and research tools for this storyline. Research guide: Follow an event across several accounts.

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Related themes

Black Life & Civil Rights →Schools & Education →UNC & Campus Life →School desegregation in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, 1954–1967 →Segregated housing and neighborhood boundaries →

Picture: Watts Motel and Restaurant on the highway south of Chapel Hill. Public domain. Kaeser & Blair postcard; Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards, UNC Libraries; via Wikimedia Commons

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