1969 Greensboro uprising

Riots in Greensboro, North Carolina December 2025 February 2025 1969 Greensboro uprising the Black Power movement Scott Hall during 1969 Greensboro Uprising.jpg A&T Student Eddie Evans being taken into protective custody after members of the North Carolina National Guard raid W. Kerr Scott Hall May 21–25, 1969 Greensboro, North Carolina Government victory Activists Student Organization for Black Unity Student protesters Rioting locals Authorities North Carolina Army National Guard Local Police 2 dead18 wounded 9 wounded The 1969 Greensboro uprising occurred on and around the campuses of James B. Dudley High School and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) in Greensboro, North Carolina, when, over the course of May 21 to May 25, gunfire was exchanged between student protesters, police and National Guard. One bystander, sophomore honors student Willie Grimes, was killed, although whether he was killed by police or protesters remains unknown. The uprising was sparked by perceived civil rights issues at the segregated high school, when a popular student council write-in presidential candidate was denied his landslide victory allegedly because school officials feared his activism in the Black Power movement. Starting on the campus of Dudley High School, the uprising spread to A&T campus where students had stood up in support of the Dudley protest. Escalating violence eventually led to armed confrontation and the invasion of the A&T campus by what was described at the time as "the most massive armed assault ever made against an American university".Biondi 2012 158 The uprising ended soon after the National Guard made a sweep of A&T college dormitories, taking hundreds of students into protective custody. While local officials blamed outside agitators, a report released by the North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights found that James B. Dudley High School had an unjust system and suppressed dissent. They found the National Guard invasion reckless and disproportionate to the actual danger, and criticized local community leaders for failing to help the Dudley High School students when the issues first emerged. They declared it "a sad commentary that the only group in the community who would take the Dudley students seriously were the students at A&T State University."NC Advisory Committee 1970 6 Events James B. Dudley High School Before events began to coalesce in the spring of 1969, the students at James B. Dudley High School were already unhappy. They no longer believed that desegregation of the school system in Greensboro was a possibility.NC Advisory Committee 1970 9 Their school was the only school in the district to place restrictions on student attire or forbid students leaving campus for lunch.NC Advisory Committee 1970 5 But the catalyst for their uprising was their failure to elect a student council president of their choice.NC Advisory Committee 1970 5Newton 1979 Even though he was not permitted on the ballot, the students attempted to place honor student Claude Barnes in the office of president as a write-in.Newton 1979NC Advisory Committee 1970 1 A senior, Barnes had been politically active in his earlier years at the school, but was feared by school officials, who believed him a militant advocate of Black Power as a member of the Youth for the Unity of Black Society.NC Advisory Committee 1970 1Bluford LibraryWaller 2002 49 Barnes won the election with 600 votes, a landslide compared to the top official candidate who received 200.Bermanzohn 2003 90 But the student body was informed on May 1 that Barnes would not be permitted to run.NC Advisory Committee 1970 1 The students of Dudley High turned for assistance to A&T.Waller 2002 49 In the later 1960s, A&T was a center for the Black Power movement in the South.Biondi 2012 157 They took the Dudley students seriously. On May 2, A&T students attempted to join discussions with school administrators, but their several attempts proved unsuccessful.Bermanzohn 2003 90 NC Advisory Committee 1970 10 Angry response of the students began to build, with an increasing number of students boycotting classes, and armed police were seen in the vicinity of the school in riot gear.NC Advisory Committee 1970 9Chafe 1981 185–186 On May 9, the school superintendent effectively disempowered the school's black principal, sending in a white administrator to try to quell the trouble.NC Advisory Committee 1970 5 Students made several attempts during this period to reach a peaceful resolution with school officials, but this administrator did not take a sympathetic or conciliatory approach to the students. On May 19, events began to reach a head.NC Advisory Committee 1970 6, 7 Police were called to deal with picketing, and, in the midst of alleged police misconduct, nine students were arrested.NC Advisory Committee 1970 2–3 Student response damaged the school and resulted in more student arrests, as well as student injuries.NC Advisory Committee 1970 3, 6 On May 21, during school hours, students again assembled near the school.NC Advisory Committee 1970 3 Police were contacted when an official indicated seeing a weapon on one of the students. Efforts by a school administrator to disperse the protesters peaceably failed when some students instead began throwing rocks through the windows of the school. Police brought tear gas against student protesters, applying it over a larger area than may have been needed for the small percentage of students involved in the protest. In some cases—according to residential bystanders—they pursued and gassed students for blocks even as they attempted to flee.NC Advisory Committee 1970 9Hawkins Community members, some of whom were also affected by the tear gas canisters, began throwing rocks at police and cars, while students from Dudley High went again to A&T to appeal for assistance.Bermanzohn 2003 90Chafe 1981 187 North Carolina A&T State University Early response to the situation at Dudley had been restricted to members of the newly-formed black activism group Student Organization for Black Unity, but the events of the day brought attention from the wider campus.NC Advisory Committee 1970 12 A&T student activist Nelson Johnson reported 400 students marching on Dudley High.Bermanzohn 2003 90 While at first violence was contained to tear gas and rocks, the shooting started shortly thereafter. Johnson claims that the first gunfire was instigated by a carload of young white people who fired onto the A&T campus, prompting the students to defend themselves in kind.Bermanzohn 2003 90 Police reported sniper fire from the dormitories at 10:45 p.m.NC Advisory Committee 1970 11, 12 Wherever it started, the police began returning fire within two hours, and 150 National Guard were sent to the scene to keep the peace.Hawkins Two students were shot.NC Advisory Committee 1970 10 One of them, bystander Willie Grimes, was killed, although whether he was shot by police or protesters remains unknown.HawkinsChafe 1981 189 The 22-year-old Grimes had been walking with a group of friends to a restaurant at around 1:30 a.m. when shots came from a passing car.Biondi 2012 158 Whether or not the car was a police vehicle has long been the subject of dispute.Newton 1979Bluford Library Grimes' death ignited the campus.Biondi 2012 158 A state of emergency was declared in Greensboro and 500 more National Guardsmen were called in.NC Advisory Committee 1970 10 The university was closed down, and a curfew was set for 8p.m. to 5 a.m.NC Advisory Committee 1970 11 During the day of May 22, violence continued, as protesters vented their anger on white motorists, overturning cars and attacking at least one of the drivers.Newton 1979 That evening, in spite of the curfew, shooting resumedHawkins Early in the morning of the 23rd, a shoot-out resulted in the serious injuries of five policemen and two students, which was followed by what was described at the time by one journalist as "the most massive armed assault ever made against an American university", with—according to 2012's The Black Revolution on Campus—the descent upon A&T of 600 National Guardsmen, a tank, a helicopter, an airplane and several armored personnel carriers.Biondi 2012 158 A UPI reporter wrote that "it looked like war".Biondi 2012 159 On information suggesting students may be harboring a large number of guns, then-governor Robert W. Scott ordered the invasion of the dormitory Scott Hall, the centerpoint of the shooting.Newton 1979 At approximately 7:00 a.m., supported by smoke, "nausea" and tear gas grenades, the National Guard swept through the dorm, placing the students they found under protective custody and doing tens of thousands worth of dollars in damage.HawkinsNC Advisory Committee 1970 14Biondi 2012 159 Many of the students were packing to evacuate or sleeping at the time of the invasion.Newton 1979 Over 300 students from Scott Hall and neighboring dormitories were sent to state prisons, where they were detained through the day. More than 60 bullet holes left their mark on Scott Hall.Newton 1979 Students alleged that during the sweep, personal items disappeared.NC Advisory Committee 1970 13 When the sweep was completed, only three operable firearms had been located.Newton 1979 By the 24th, the violence was contained.Hawkins The curfew was lifted and the National Guard withdrawn. The uprising was declared over on May 25. Aftermath Willie Grimes' funeral was attended by 2,000 people, and a marker was erected on campus in his memory.Newton 1979Bluford Library Governor Scott stated that the violence had been incited by a group of hard-core militants who had seized on the high school election as a catalyst for furthering their own cause.Chafe 1981 191 On October 3 and 4 of that year, meetings were held to investigate the incident under the direction of the North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.NC Advisory Committee 1970 III While local officials continued blaming "outsiders" and "radicals" for the event, the committee found that the "prevailing system" at Dudley was unjust and that the school had suppressed dissent.NC Advisory Committee 1970 5, 8, 15 Criticizing the inaction or ineffective action of school officials and community leaders, they declared it "a sad commentary that the only group in the community who would take the Dudley students seriously were the students at A&T State University."NC Advisory Committee 1970 6 They also condemned the conduct of the National Guard sweep of Scott Hall, which endangered innocent students and seemed out of proportion to the actual risk, writing that "it is difficult to justify the lawlessness and the disorder in which this operation was executed."NC Advisory Committee 1970 14 In 1979, Jack Elam, Greensboro's mayor during the event, expressed discomfort with the sweep of Scott Hall, but—although he agreed that communication had been poor—declared the committee's report a "joke".Newton 1979 Johnson, who had been arrested for inciting the Dudley students to riot and who was instrumental in bringing the committee to review the situation, wrote later that the community ignored the Advisory Committee's report.Biondi 2012 158, 160 Additional black policemen were employed by the city, although by 1979 the number of black policemen were still not representative of the proportion of black residents of the area.Newton 1979 2008 saw the release of a documentary recounting the event, Walls that Bleed.Rowe 2008 Notes 3 References Bermanzohn Sally Avery Through Survivors' Eyes: From the Sixties to the Greensboro Massacre 1 September 2003 Vanderbilt University Press 978-0-8265-1439-4 Biondi Martha The Black Revolution on Campus 2 July 2012 University of California Press 978-0-520-95352-9 Chafe William H. Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom 14 May 1981 Oxford University Press 978-0-19-502919-2 Hawkins Karen Dudley High School/NC A&T University Disturbances, May 1969 September 3, 2012 Civil Rights Greensboro University of North Carolina, Greensboro http://library.uncg.edu/dp/crg/topicalessays/dudleyatprotest.aspx June 6, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120606150323/http://library.uncg.edu/dp/crg/topicalessays/DudleyATProtest.aspx dead Newton David The Day the National Guard Swept A&T's Scott Hall Greensboro Daily News May 20, 1979 http://library.uncg.edu/dp/crg/item.aspx?i=1090 September 3, 2012 August 20, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130820164729/http://library.uncg.edu/dp/crg/item.aspx?i=1090 dead North Carolina Advisory Committee on Civil Rights Trouble in Greensboro: A Report of an Open Meeting Concerning Disturbances at Dudley High School and North Carolina A&T State University March 1970 http://library.uncg.edu/dp/crg/item.aspx?i=38 CITEREFNC Advisory Committee1970 2012-09-03 2013-05-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20130522023853/http://library.uncg.edu/dp/crg/item.aspx?i=38 dead http://www.library.ncat.edu/resources/archives/grimes.html Bluford Library Willie Grimes North Carolina A&T University September 2, 2012 December 20, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20131220131955/http://www.library.ncat.edu/resources/archives/grimes.html dead Rowe Jeri http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/10/06/article/filmmaker_driven_to_get_it_right_for_walls_that_bleed Filmmaker driven to get it right for 'Walls That Bleed' News & Record October 6, 2008 September 3, 2012 June 2017 InternetArchiveBot yes Waller Signe Love and Revolution: A Political Memoir : People's History of the Greensboro Massacre, Its Setting and Aftermath 1 November 2002 Rowman & Littlefield 978-0-7425-1365-5 External links Walls that Bleed https://web.archive.org/web/20211107230553/https://wallsthatbleedthemovie.com/ November 7, 2021 , documentary Category:Black Power Category:Attacks on schools in the 1960s Category:1969 murders in the United States Category:History of African-American civil rights Category:History of Greensboro, North Carolina Category:North Carolina A&T State University Category:University and college shootings in the United States Category:Protest-related deaths in the United States Category:University and college killings in the United States Category:High school killings in the United States Category:1969 in North Carolina Category:Crimes in North Carolina Category:Rebellions in the United States Category:May 1969 in the United States Category:1969 mass shootings in the United States Category:Mass shootings in North Carolina Category:School shootings in North Carolina Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in 1969