Post by Freeze on Dec 7, 2005 14:14:48 GMT -5
Gentlemen (and ladies if any are reading or posting)
Recently in the A&T public sports forum some questions and comments were raised in regards to the culture of Black institutions and student activism. One of our posters Scotthall B suggested that our alma mater did not facilitate students protest and indeed "kicked out sit-in participants" the following year. This comment is very inaccurate. Student activists at A&T (particularly sit-in participants) received great support from the administration and faculty especially considering all the pressure that A&T was under as a state school. Students along with administrators and faculty helped to form the Student Executive Committee for Justice. It was made up of all the aforementioned groups as well as input from community supporters. But they made sure that the face of this new committee reflected people affiliated with the Aggie family so that the powers that be could not point to "outside agitators" influencing student protest.
President Warmouth T. Gibbs eventually lost his job as President of A&T because he refused to intervene and stop student protest. He eventually made the now famous statement "we teach our students how to think, not what to think." President Dowdy, who followed Gibbs, was also very supportive of student activism (much to the chigrin of state legislators who expected him to crack down on Aggie students involved in the movement). But eventually he was forced to comply with the demands of Governor Terry Sanford but by this time, the action of students had inspired and mobilized a new threat to the Jim Crow power structure, the surrounding Black community. Community activist and supporters of student protest in Greensboro helped to continue the momentum of the movement, even after A&T students became disengaged because of state actions (not the actions or personal wishes of administrators at A&T).
I'll stop here. Whereas I could go on and on and on, I will point you to what is considered the authoritative piece on the legacy of student activism in Greensboro entitled "Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for Freedom" by William Chafe.
Let me also add that the original Greensboro Four, Franklin McCain, David Richmond, Joesph Mcneil, and Ezell Blair were not "kicked out" of A&T. As immediate "celebrities" in the new student movement many of the faced new found pressure in the movement causing them to become sidetracked in their academic progress at the university. It would take some of them considerable time to finish their degrees at the university and many of them came under serious mental and physical pressure and duress due to their participation in the movement. This is something which has plagued former activists across the country. I have seen it first hand in interviews I have conducted with them and one cant help to feel sad for their pain and grateful for their struggle.
My dissertation is entitled "Shelter in a Time of Storm: Black Institutions and the Rise of Student Activism in Jackson, Mississippi." I'll talk about that later if you're interested.
We have a LOT to be proud of as Aggies. More than we fail to realize sometimes. The modern civil rights movement did not begin in 1955 with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This event was momentous and Rosa Parks is indeed a true American hero. However what constitutes a movement? In what way did the Montogmery bus boycott catalyze events around the south? Above all, it was not direct action and lacked the TYPE of courage that is called for when one places their body on the line in a public restaurant. This is not to belittle Mrs. Parks and the profound actions of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but the true catalyst for the the civil rights movement and the defining moment of the sixties was when thousands of Black students woke up throughout the south, a full five years after Montgomery, and forever changed the social and political landscape of America.
That began at North Carolina A&T State University and I am very proud of that.
Aggie Pride.
p.s.- Scotthall B I'm still open to discussing this via PM if you would like.
Recently in the A&T public sports forum some questions and comments were raised in regards to the culture of Black institutions and student activism. One of our posters Scotthall B suggested that our alma mater did not facilitate students protest and indeed "kicked out sit-in participants" the following year. This comment is very inaccurate. Student activists at A&T (particularly sit-in participants) received great support from the administration and faculty especially considering all the pressure that A&T was under as a state school. Students along with administrators and faculty helped to form the Student Executive Committee for Justice. It was made up of all the aforementioned groups as well as input from community supporters. But they made sure that the face of this new committee reflected people affiliated with the Aggie family so that the powers that be could not point to "outside agitators" influencing student protest.
President Warmouth T. Gibbs eventually lost his job as President of A&T because he refused to intervene and stop student protest. He eventually made the now famous statement "we teach our students how to think, not what to think." President Dowdy, who followed Gibbs, was also very supportive of student activism (much to the chigrin of state legislators who expected him to crack down on Aggie students involved in the movement). But eventually he was forced to comply with the demands of Governor Terry Sanford but by this time, the action of students had inspired and mobilized a new threat to the Jim Crow power structure, the surrounding Black community. Community activist and supporters of student protest in Greensboro helped to continue the momentum of the movement, even after A&T students became disengaged because of state actions (not the actions or personal wishes of administrators at A&T).
I'll stop here. Whereas I could go on and on and on, I will point you to what is considered the authoritative piece on the legacy of student activism in Greensboro entitled "Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina and the Black Struggle for Freedom" by William Chafe.
Let me also add that the original Greensboro Four, Franklin McCain, David Richmond, Joesph Mcneil, and Ezell Blair were not "kicked out" of A&T. As immediate "celebrities" in the new student movement many of the faced new found pressure in the movement causing them to become sidetracked in their academic progress at the university. It would take some of them considerable time to finish their degrees at the university and many of them came under serious mental and physical pressure and duress due to their participation in the movement. This is something which has plagued former activists across the country. I have seen it first hand in interviews I have conducted with them and one cant help to feel sad for their pain and grateful for their struggle.
My dissertation is entitled "Shelter in a Time of Storm: Black Institutions and the Rise of Student Activism in Jackson, Mississippi." I'll talk about that later if you're interested.
We have a LOT to be proud of as Aggies. More than we fail to realize sometimes. The modern civil rights movement did not begin in 1955 with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This event was momentous and Rosa Parks is indeed a true American hero. However what constitutes a movement? In what way did the Montogmery bus boycott catalyze events around the south? Above all, it was not direct action and lacked the TYPE of courage that is called for when one places their body on the line in a public restaurant. This is not to belittle Mrs. Parks and the profound actions of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but the true catalyst for the the civil rights movement and the defining moment of the sixties was when thousands of Black students woke up throughout the south, a full five years after Montgomery, and forever changed the social and political landscape of America.
That began at North Carolina A&T State University and I am very proud of that.
Aggie Pride.
p.s.- Scotthall B I'm still open to discussing this via PM if you would like.