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

Event

UNC foodworkers’ strikes, 1969

Both walkouts of 1969: the February–March strike the Lenoir Hall cafeteria workers led, with Mary Smith and Elizabeth Brooks at its head and the Black Student Movement in support, and the November–December strike against SAGA Food Service.

11 works about UNC foodworkers’ strikes, 1969 are indexed here.

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓
Lenoir Hall, the UNC cafeteria whose workers walked out in February 1969
Lenoir Hall, the UNC cafeteria whose workers walked out in February 1969

In the chronology

Chronology entries for this event, in date order. See these 39 dated events in the chronology →

  1. University Food Services moves all cooking for Chase into Lenoir's kitchen and lays off nine To cut costs, University Food Services consolidated food preparation for Lenoir and Chase dining halls in one kitchen at Lenoir, laid off eight part-time workers and a food production manager at Chase and switched Chase to paper plates. Students complained the trucked food arrived cold. Place: Lenoir Hall and Chase Cafeteria, University, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, February 5, 1969, p. 1
  2. 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 Dobbins Place: Chapel HillUNC Libraries: Foodworkers' Strike, I Raised My Hand To Volunteer · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 25, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, March 22, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, February 2, 1976, p. 6; The Daily Tar Heel, April 29, 1982, p. 5; The Daily Tar Heel, February 22, 1985, p. 1
  3. Lenoir Hall workers join the Pine Room walkout and the BSM calls a student boycott A day after 17 Pine Room employees stopped work, 25 Lenoir Hall workers joined them, leaving Lenoir on self-service. More than 40 workers, most of them Black, met four University officials for two and a half hours in Lenoir's north dining room without settling their grievances, and BSM co-chairman Preston Dobbins called on students to boycott every University Food Service dining hall. People: Preston Dobbins Place: Lenoir Hall, University, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, February 25, 1969, p. 1
  4. The walkout spreads to Chase and the Monogram Club, and strikers serve meals in Manning Hall Thirty Chase Cafeteria workers and 12 at the Monogram Club stopped work after meeting BSM members, bringing the number out to more than 140 and closing every University dining hall but Lenoir. Former Lenoir workers cooked fried chicken dinners in Manning Hall for about 200 people, taking donations instead of payment because the Umstead Act barred campus competition with private business. Place: Manning Hall, University, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, February 26, 1969, p. 1
  5. Students and campus ministers picket Lenoir Hall's delivery trucks About 35 students and church officials, led by Episcopal chaplain Bill Coats, picketed Lenoir Hall before dawn and persuaded the drivers of two of three trucks not to deliver, though both later returned. After a second picket of about 65 the next morning failed to stop a truck, the pickets were called off when Food Service director George Prillaman had deliveries staggered through the day. Place: Lenoir Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Bill Coats, George PrillamanThe Daily Tar Heel, February 27, 1969, p. 1
  6. Student Legislature votes to support the striking food workers and their boycott By 13 to 5, the Student Legislature passed a resolution supporting the cafeteria workers and asking students not to eat in University dining halls, to eat at the workers' lines in Manning Hall and to refuse temporary jobs in the Food Service. Ways and Means chairman Bill Lee said his committee found workers held as temporary for long periods, split shifts and promotions denied by race. Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Bill Lee · Also mentions: Manning HallThe Daily Tar Heel, February 28, 1969, p. 1
  7. Twenty-six student leaders urge students to back the cafeteria boycott An open letter signed by 26 student leaders, among them the senior class president, the Carolina Union president, the GSA president and the Daily Tar Heel editor, urged students to support the boycott and give to the UNC Employees' Benefit Fund. Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Carolina UnionThe Daily Tar Heel, March 1, 1969, p. 1
  8. UNC limits new employees' temporary status to 90 days Vice Chancellor J. C. Eagles Jr. announced that new University employees would be reviewed after 90 days and either made permanent or let go, with temporary status never running past 180 days. Striking food workers had complained that some full-time workers of long standing were still classed as temporary and denied benefits. Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. C. Eagles Jr.The Daily Tar Heel, March 2, 1969, p. 1
  9. Strike supporters overturn Lenoir Hall's tables, and police close the dining hall A stall-in by about 40 white supporters of the strikers, who moved slowly through Lenoir's serving lines buying nothing, led to shoving and at least two fist fights with other students. Shortly before 7 p.m. about 35 Black students and as many white supporters marched through the dining room overturning tables and chairs, and a dozen helmeted Chapel Hill police came in and closed the hall. Place: Lenoir Hall, University, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, March 5, 1969, p. 1
  10. Governor Scott orders Lenoir Hall reopened under Highway Patrol guard After Chancellor Sitterson closed Lenoir Hall on March 5 during the foodworkers' strike, Governor Bob Scott ordered it reopened, sent at least 50 state patrolmen to Chapel Hill and mobilized a National Guard unit in Durham. The dining hall opened the next morning with more than 40 riot-equipped troopers and about 25 Chapel Hill police at its entrances while as many as 300 people picketed. People: Robert W. Scott, J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Lenoir Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Bob ScottSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 7, 1969, p. 1
  11. Howard Fuller speaks at a rally for the striking food workers at Lenoir Hall Durham organizer Howard Fuller spoke at a 1 p.m. rally on the south steps of Lenoir Hall called by supporters of the strike, the day after the disturbance in the dining hall. The Daily Tar Heel said he told students the workers' struggle was theirs too. Place: Lenoir Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Howard FullerThe Daily Tar Heel, March 5, 1969, p. 1
  12. Striking food workers and University administrators hold their first talks On the day Lenoir Hall reopened under Highway Patrol guard, officers of the food workers' association, including vice president Elizabeth Brooks, met Vice Chancellor J. C. Eagles Jr. and Claiborne Jones for three and a half hours. The administrators agreed to three of the workers' grievances, among them addressing workers as Mr. or Mrs.; Brooks said the meeting accomplished nothing. People: Elizabeth Brooks Place: Lenoir Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. C. Eagles Jr., Claiborne JonesThe Daily Tar Heel, March 7, 1969, p. 1
Show all 39 dated events
  1. A bomb threat empties the Carolina Union during a strike strategy meeting A telephoned bomb threat at 1:19 p.m. led campus police to clear the Carolina Union during a strategy session of about 450 supporters of the food workers; no bomb was found. The meeting moved to Manning Hall, where BSM co-chairman Preston Dobbins urged the crowd to avoid any clash with the police. People: Preston Dobbins Place: Carolina Union, University, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Manning HallThe Daily Tar Heel, March 8, 1969, p. 1
  2. Faculty members vote to put off classes unless the troopers leave and the strike is settled A meeting of faculty members and graduate teaching assistants voted 70 to 9 for Steven Polgar's resolution urging instructors to reschedule classes after the following Tuesday unless Chancellor Sitterson answered satisfactorily, and asked Governor Scott to remove the state troopers. Faculty chairman Frederic Cleaveland said it was not an official meeting of the faculty. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Steven Polgar, Frederic CleavelandThe Daily Tar Heel, March 8, 1969, p. 1
  3. Floyd McKissick visits the strikers' headquarters in Manning Hall Floyd McKissick, former head of CORE and a graduate of the UNC Law School, visited Manning Hall and called it poetic justice that the workers' cafeteria was set up in the old law school building. People: Floyd B. McKissick Place: Manning Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Floyd McKissick · Also mentions: UNC Law SchoolThe Daily Tar Heel, March 9, 1969, p. 1
  4. About 350 people line Franklin Street in a Sunday vigil for the striking workers In the manner of the weekly Vietnam vigil, about 350 supporters of the food workers lined Franklin Street in front of the churches from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to reach churchgoers. The Southern Student Organizing Committee called the vigil. Place: Franklin Street, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, March 11, 1969, p. 1
  5. Concerned Graduate Students vote to strike unless the food workers' demands are met Meeting Sunday night despite President Friday's warning, the Concerned Graduate Students voted to go on strike Wednesday, March 12, unless the food workers' demands were met to the workers' satisfaction. Earlier that day 43 of 75 sociology graduate students had voted to strike at once, then waited to act with the rest. Place: University, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, March 11, 1969, p. 1
  6. President Friday and the chancellors warn that instructors who stop teaching may lose their pay In a statement released Sunday evening, Consolidated University President William Friday and the four chancellors warned that graduate instructors who willfully failed to meet their classes faced loss of pay and that other faculty could be charged with neglect of duty under trustee rules. The warning answered faculty and graduate student calls to reschedule classes over the strike. People: William C. Friday Place: Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, March 11, 1969, p. 1
  7. The food workers retain Julius Chambers's law firm, which accuses the University of breaking federal law A telegram signed by Julius L. Chambers told Chancellor Sitterson that the Charlotte firm of Chambers, Stein, Ferguson and Lanning represented the workers' union and charged that the University had broken the Fair Labor Standards Act by never paying the statutory overtime rate and had discriminated against the workers by race. Sitterson referred it to the state attorney general, and attorney Adam Stein met Claiborne Jones the next day. People: Julius L. Chambers Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Adam Stein, Claiborne JonesThe Daily Tar Heel, March 11, 1969, p. 1
  8. About 300 students circle South Building in a noon vigil for the strikers About 300 students circled South Building at noon in support of the food workers. Earlier that morning about 50 Black and white students went through Saunders and Murphey halls chanting and banging on doors for half an hour. Place: South Building, University, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, March 11, 1969, p. 1
  9. State Personnel Department specialists begin reviewing the food workers' job classifications State Personnel Director Claude Caldwell and seven job classification specialists met about 20 working employees in Gerrard Hall and then went to Manning Hall to talk with officers of the workers' union, promising to gather information from the workers directly rather than from supervisors. Chancellor Sitterson told employees in Gerrard Hall that the University had not always treated them with respect and fairness. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Gerrard Hall and Manning Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Claude Caldwell · Also mentions: Manning HallThe Daily Tar Heel, March 11, 1969, p. 1
  10. UNC's general faculty resolves that the striking workers have serious grievances After Chancellor Sitterson told more than 1,000 faculty in Memorial Hall that the food service management was under review and extensive changes were expected, the general faculty passed law professor Dan Pollitt's resolution urging the administration to deal with the workers as a group, let them bring spokesmen of their choosing and settle within about two weeks. A second resolution asked the Faculty Council for a committee on non-academic personnel. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Memorial Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Dan PollittThe Daily Tar Heel, March 12, 1969, p. 1
  11. State troopers clear Manning Hall on Governor Scott's orders About 75 state troopers ringed Manning Hall, the striking food workers' headquarters, on the afternoon of March 13 after Governor Bob Scott ordered it vacated. Students left before police arrived, and a crowd of up to 1,000 then rallied on the steps of South Building. People: Robert W. Scott, J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Manning Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Bob ScottSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 14, 1969, p. 1
  12. Chancellor Sitterson tells 2,000 students what the University is doing about the food workers' grievances In Memorial Hall, Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson told about 2,000 students that auditors had found 168 cases of unpaid overtime since February 1968, that back pay would begin within days, that a discharged worker would be reinstated and that the staff would be searched for a Black supervisor. Workers' association president Mary Smith answered that the strike would go on until the $1.80 minimum, a Black supervisor and the removal of the food service director were won. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson Place: Memorial Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Mary SmithThe Daily Tar Heel, March 15, 1969, p. 1
  13. The trustees' executive committee makes campus disruption grounds for expulsion or dismissal During the food workers' strike, the executive committee of the University Board of Trustees resolved that any student who disrupted the University's work, or urged others to, could be suspended or expelled, and passed a like rule for faculty members. It also commended President William Friday and Governor Bob Scott's pledge that the state's campuses would not be closed by disruption. People: William C. Friday, Robert W. Scott Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (meeting place not stated) · Also named: Bob ScottThe Daily Tar Heel, March 16, 1969, p. 1
  14. Students hold an all-day vigil in Polk Place for the striking food workers Up to 500 people gathered in Polk Place on March 17 in support of the striking University food workers; about 300 wrote to Governor Bob Scott and their legislators at tables set up by student government, and Representatives Jim Beatty and Skipper Bowles came to talk with them. The vigil went on the next day but moved into Gerrard Hall in the rain and fell to about 50. People: Preston Dobbins Place: Polk Place, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Jim Beatty, Hargrove Bowles Jr., Bob Scott · Also mentions: Gerrard HallThe Daily Tar Heel, March 18, 1969, p. 1
  15. Chancellor Sitterson relieves food service director George Prillaman of his duties Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson announced that George Prillaman, director of University Food Services, whose removal the strikers had demanded, was reassigned to help the auditor revise the food service's record keeping. Workers' leader Elizabeth Brooks said the move was no victory, and the same report said the state troopers had left the campus. People: J. Carlyle Sitterson, Elizabeth Brooks Place: University, Chapel Hill · Also named: George PrillamanThe Daily Tar Heel, March 19, 1969, p. 1
  16. Joan Baez sings a benefit concert in Carmichael Auditorium for the striking food workers Folk singer Joan Baez, in Durham for draft seminars, agreed when students asked her to sing a benefit for the strikers in Carmichael Auditorium, with tickets at $2 and all proceeds to the employees' benefit fund. The faculty committee for the workers later put the concert's take at almost $5,000. Place: Carmichael Auditorium, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Joan BaezThe Daily Tar Heel, March 20, 1969, p. 1
  17. Students and some faculty strike classes in support of the food workers At the striking food workers' request, a strike of classes began on March 19 with about 60 pickets at Saunders, Murphey and Bingham halls and about 200 people in Polk Place; the Daily Tar Heel said about 30 Chapel Hill High School students joined the first day. Turnout stayed small, though some faculty taught in Polk Place and strikers held 'liberation' classes on March 21. People: Elizabeth Brooks, Preston Dobbins Place: Polk Place, University, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill High SchoolThe Daily Tar Heel, March 20, 1969, p. 1
  18. A Polk Place rally learns that Governor Scott has ordered a $1.80 minimum wage for state workers As about 500 people gathered in Polk Place for a rally with Durham activist Howard Fuller, workers' association officer Amy Lyons announced that Governor Bob Scott had ordered a minimum of $1.80 an hour for state employees from April 1, the strikers' chief demand. Fuller and BSM co-chairman Preston Dobbins told the crowd the Black Student Movement's own demands were still unmet. People: Robert W. Scott, Preston Dobbins Place: Polk Place, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Howard Fuller, Amy Lyons, Bob ScottThe Daily Tar Heel, March 22, 1969, p. 1
  19. The striking food workers vote to go back to work, ending their month-long strike The food workers' bargaining committee announced that the workers had voted unanimously to accept the settlement reached between Governor Bob Scott and their attorney Julius Chambers: double back pay for unpaid overtime as federal law provided, six Black workers made supervisors, and 155 of about 175 workers upgraded. Lenoir Hall was back in full operation on March 24, though Chase Cafeteria stayed closed. People: Elizabeth Brooks, Robert W. Scott Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Julius Chambers, Ralph Scott, Bob Scott · Also mentions: Chase Cafeteria, Lenoir HallThe Daily Tar Heel, March 23, 1969, p. 1
  20. 242 faculty members ask Governor Scott to act through University officials A letter signed by 242 UNC faculty members reached Governor Bob Scott, praising the administration's efforts to right the cafeteria workers' pay and working conditions and asking that any future action against violence on the campus go through the University's chain of command. The governor's office had no comment. People: Robert W. Scott Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Bob ScottThe Daily Tar Heel, March 28, 1969, p. 1
  21. Chapel Hill District Court fines six Black students over the overturned tables in Lenoir Hall Judge L. J. Phipps fined six Black students $150 each on disorderly conduct charges from the March 4 disturbance in Lenoir Hall during the food workers' strike, and ordered them until July 1, 1971, not to disrupt the work of the University or any other state college. Their lawyer entered pleas of no contest, and the Black Student Movement opened a legal defense fund to pay the fines. People: Luther James Phipps Place: District Court, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Lenoir HallThe Daily Tar Heel, April 10, 1969, p. 1
  22. University Food Services raises its prices 12 percent and keeps Chase Cafeteria closed Auxiliary Enterprises director J. A. Branch announced average price rises of 12.1 percent, an end to free coffee refills, an 85-cent student special, five-day schedules for the Pine Room and Monogram Club from April 16, and the indefinite closing of Chase Cafeteria, whose 52 workers moved to Lenoir Hall. He tied the changes to rising costs and the workers' five-day, 40-hour week. Place: Lenoir Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. A. Branch · Also mentions: Chase CafeteriaThe Daily Tar Heel, April 12, 1969, p. 1
  23. Faculty members give $13,000 to the striking food workers The Faculty Committee for the Workers said faculty members had given $13,000 for the food workers, raised mainly by circulars after the faculty passed a resolution for the workers, and that it would also repay students who lost wages during the strike. Place: University, Chapel HillThe Daily Tar Heel, April 10, 1969, p. 1
  24. UNC hands campus dining to the SAGA Food Service contract Two months after settling the spring strike the University signed a contract with SAGA Food Services on May 19, 1969, ending its own management of campus dining. SAGA laid off many temporary and part-time workers within weeks, which set up the second strike that autumn. Place: Lenoir Hall, Chapel HillUNC Libraries: Foodworkers' Strike, I Raised My Hand To Volunteer · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, June 19, 1969, p. 4; The Daily Tar Heel, November 9, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, March 13, 1970, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, April 29, 1982, p. 5
  25. Students and faculty organize to find work for laid-off cafeteria workers Nearly 100 students and faculty members met and decided to press both the University and SAGA Food Service over the summer layoffs of cafeteria workers while finding the laid-off workers jobs on their own. Student body president Alan Albright said the University had given the workers to understand they would be offered jobs, and Bob Friedman, speaking for the Fair Food Service Student Committee, charged bad faith by the University and SAGA. Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Alan Albright, Bob FriedmanThe Daily Tar Heel, July 24, 1969, p. 1
  26. UNC begins paying cafeteria workers $180,000 in back overtime The University began paying about 500 food service workers $180,000 in overtime owed since February 1, 1967, the figure set by the U.S. Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division in a report released August 1. Dr. Claiborne S. Jones of the chancellor's office said the University would not try to find out what was owed before that date, and that the money came from interest on short-term investments rather than state funds. People: William C. Friday Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Claiborne S. JonesThe Daily Tar Heel, August 7, 1969, p. 1
  27. 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 Brooks Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Ralph AbernathyUNC Libraries: Foodworkers' Strike, I Raised My Hand To Volunteer · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, November 8, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, November 9, 1969, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, February 2, 1976, p. 6

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 them all.

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.

  • Lenoir Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 8 events here
  • Chase Cafeteria (Chase Hall) University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 3 events here
  • Manning Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 2 events here
  • South Building 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.

Oral history interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, March 21-22, 1991: interview L-0064-6, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Pollitt, Daniel H. · 2008 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Sixth Pollitt interview, recorded March 21 and 22, 1991, by Ann McColl, about an hour long. Its single subject is the 1969 strike by food service workers at UNC, which Pollitt supported. He sets the strike in its local and national context, the labor and civil rights currents of the late 1960s, then follows how it unfolded among the workers, their union backers, the faculty and the university administration. Published online in 2008 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Strikes and lockouts -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill -- Food service employees.

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: Strikes and lockouts -- Restaurants -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill -- History -- 20th century -- Exhibitions.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke Library of Congress CH Historical Society

Oral history interview with Ashley Davis, April 12, 1974: interview E-0062, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Davis, Ashley · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Ashley Davis, who entered UNC in 1968 and joined the Black Student Movement, recalls the 1969 strike by the university's cafeteria workers and the BSM's decision to stand with them when the workers asked. Recorded April 12, 1974, by Russell Rymer for the Southern Oral History Program, the hour-and-a-half interview touches on Chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson, the Southern Student Organizing Committee and race relations among students on campus. Published online in 2007 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Elizabeth Brooks, October 2, 1974: interview E-0058, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Brooks, Elizabeth · 2006 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Elizabeth Brooks, a cafeteria worker at UNC and a leader of the 1969 food workers' strike, speaks in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded October 2, 1974, by Beverly Jones. Born in Caswell County, Brooks had made her home in Hillsborough since 1949 and raised nine children before her first paid job, at the university. She describes the strike, the Black Student Movement's support for the workers, and the response of Governor Robert W. Scott. Published online in 2006 in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

NC Cardinal UNC

It Wasn't Slavery Time Anymore: Foodworkers' Strike at Chapel Hill, Spring 1969

Williams, J. Derek · 1979

J. Derek Williams's 1979 study of the 1969 strike by cafeteria workers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examining a chapter in the university's labor and Black history. A typescript of 270 leaves with a bibliography.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

UNC

Oral history interview with Bob Scott, April 4, 1990 interview L-0193, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).

Scott, Robert Walter · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Robert W. Scott (1929-2009), North Carolina's governor between 1969 and 1973 and son of Governor Kerr Scott, interviewed by William Link on April 4, 1990 for the Southern Oral History Program. Scott discusses his student years at North Carolina State College in the early 1950s and his dealings with university president William Friday, including the food workers' strike at Chapel Hill, college integration, and the consolidation of the state's universities into the UNC System during his term. One hour thirty-seven minutes. Electronic edition 2007.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

NC Cardinal UNC
Show 5 more

Women behind the lines.

1990

Documentary running twenty-six minutes on the 1969 food service workers' strike at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told through the women who carried it, among them Elizabeth Brooks and Mary Smith. Wages, discrimination in employment and the Black Student Movement on campus are among its subjects. Released in 1990 in color with black and white segments.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

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: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

Duke

Newspaper clippings relating to opposition to the Vietnam War in North Carolina : September, 1969 - June, 1970

1970

Newspaper clippings on opposition to the Vietnam War in North Carolina, covering September 1969 through June 1970, in UNC's North Carolina Collection. The articles come from papers across the state, among them the student newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and topics include student movements, student protesters and the university's chancellor J. Carlyle Sitterson.

Included because: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

UNC

Newspaper clippings relating to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill food service workers' strike

1970

Eighty two leaves of newspaper clippings reporting on the food service workers' strike at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The articles were taken from papers across North Carolina, and topics include food service employees in Chapel Hill, strikes in the food trade, student protesters and student movements, with the strike itself dated to 1969. Part of the North Carolina Collection at UNC.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

UNC

[The food service employees' strike, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, February 23 to March 21, 1969].

Goldstein, Buck · 1969 · Buck Goldstein and Joe Shedd

Buck Goldstein and Joe Shedd wrote this eleven leaf account of the food service employees' strike at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which ran from 23 February to 21 March 1969. The copy is a typescript photocopy. Topics include strikes in the food trade in Chapel Hill and university employees. Part of the North Carolina Collection.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Strikes and lockouts -- Food industry and trade -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

UNC

Research sources

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

Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

Local help

Related themes

UNC & Campus Life →Black student activism at UNC →Schools & Education →Work, Labor & Industry →Black Life & Civil Rights →

Picture: Lenoir Hall, the UNC cafeteria whose workers walked out in February 1969. CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph by Hameltion; via Wikimedia Commons

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

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

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