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The Long Vigil

Submitted by tleonard on 07/17/2012 - 13:12

When 102-year-old Charlotte Adams died in July 2005, she was remembered as "Chapel Hill's most tireless -- and most dlightful -- crusader." Her work spanned nearly 70 year and was all the more remarkable considering that with each decade, "she was as old as the decade."

In 1997, N&O writer Dave Hart wrote a profile of the then-95-year-old Adams.

Adams was born in Tennessee as Charlotte Garth, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. She wanted to become a medical missionary and moved to Chapel Hill in 1927 to earn her pre-med degree.

Helping a fellow student serve refreshments to the English club one day - "That used to be what women did, serve refreshments, " she says - she met Raymond Adams, a graduate student in English literature.

[...]

"Well, Robert Frost used to come here every spring to read poetry, and Mr. Adams asked me if I wanted to go with him to hear Robert Frost. I said, 'I'm not an English scholar.' He said, 'Everybody who speaks English ought to go.' So I went."

She and Adams were married later that year and remained married for 60 years, until Raymond's death in 1987. He was a passionate scholar of Henry David Thoreau; Adams still has an arrowhead once owned by Thoreau that was given to them by a biographer of the great Transcendentalist, and she maintains Raymond's extensive library of Thoreau's early-editions.

In 1935, Dorothy Detzer, secretary of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, spoke at UNC. Adams, who by then had become a Quaker and begun to admire Thoreau's philosophy of pacifism and civil disobedience, attended the speech. Inspired, she helped begin the local branch of the organization.

"We had a good group, but in 1941 they all fell away, " Adams said. "Peace and freedom were not on people's minds in '41 through '45. But there were six of us here in Chapel Hill who stuck with it and kept it alive. We urged the president, FDR - you've heard of FDR? - to move toward peace."

After World War II, Adams and the league shifted their attention toward civil rights. It was a long and difficult struggle, but by 1960 the movement had begun to gather steam. Adams and other activists went to Greensboro to support the lunch-counter sit-ins there, and they brought the protest movement back to Chapel Hill with them, organizing sit-ins and marches.

"I remember one occasion when we had students marching up and down, protesting segregation, and I went to one restaurant manager and asked him if he would let the blacks come in and have a cup of coffee, " Adams said. "He said no. His black cook heard this and looked out and saw his minister there in the crowd. He said, 'You mean my minister can't have a cup of coffee?' The man said, 'That's right.' And the cook said, 'Then you don't have a cook anymore, ' and he walked out and joined us.

[...]

Retired law professor Dan Pollitt was among those on the picket lines with Adams. He recalled that even then her charm disarmed those she was working against.

"The movie houses wouldn't admit blacks, and when 'Porgy and Bess' came out, the English teacher at the black high school asked the theater manager if she could bring her class to see it, " Pollitt said. "He said no, and we began picketing both movie houses downtown. We did this for seven or eight months, around the clock, in shifts.

"And I remember that whenever it was cold and rainy, the manager would come out with an umbrella and walk with Charlotte, keeping her dry."

The vigils in front of the post office began in 1966 to protest the Vietnam War - "You've heard of Vietnam?" Charlotte asked - and continued until 1972. At the same time, Adams and two colleagues, Tan Schwab and Beth Okun, began monitoring the local court on Rosemary Street to try to ensure that justice was being dispensed to black defendants. The trio would sit in court from 9 a.m. until noon and then walk to the post office for the vigil.

Adams noticed that the court docket was slowed and clogged with many cases that ultimately failed to find resolution because the offended party dropped charges. Perhaps, she thought, there was a way to resolve these kinds of conflicts without tying up the legal system.

Out of this grew the Orange County Dispute Settlement Center, dedicated to peaceful, mediated conflict-resolution. It's been a terrific success.

"It's a marvelous thing, " Adams said. "So many squabbles can be worked out without going to court. You'd be amazed how many roommates get into scraps over telephone bills." -- The N&O 12/5/1997

NC students joined in protest

Submitted by tleonard on 11/15/2011 - 14:19

Tags: Past Times | ncsu | protest | UNC-Chapel Hill | war

The days following the 1970 Kent State shootings saw student protests on college campuses across the country.

In response, President Richard Nixon held a conference with eight university presidents, including UNC's William Friday. According to Friday, "...we had rallies on all our campuses, ranging from 6,000 at Chapel Hill to three or four hundred on the smaller campuses, where there was no violence..."

On May 8, protesters gathered in Washington and San Francisco, and 4,500 students marched to the capitol in Raleigh.

The students marched to the Capitol, 20 abreast with arms linked, in a column that stretched down Hillsborough Street for five blocks.

The marchers, who were orderly and well-behaved throughout the demonstration, included students from North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, East Carolina University, Wake Forest University, Shaw University, St. Augustine's College, Meredith College and St. Mary's college.

Major H. T. Bailey of the Raleigh Police Department estimated 4,500 students and others participated in the march. "They were very orderly, well-behaved and appeared to be well-organized," Bailey said. "There were no violations observed and no arrests were made."

As the students marched from N. C. State University behind American and peace flag, they shouted, "Join Us! Join Us!" to workers and businessmen who came out of their offices along Hillsborough Street to watch.

[...]

Above Capitol Square the students looked like a sea of flailing arms waiving the two-finger peace sign beneath the Capitol oaks and magnolias.

"I'm here to give my two cents while I'm still a free man," said Lee Baker of Rocky Mount, who will be drafted on Thursday.

The giant march on the Capitol was organized on the various campuses earlier this week after (Governor Bob) Scott's support of Nixon's action in Cambodia had been announced.

[...]

There were approximately 400 student marshals from N. C. State and other colleges and universities keeping order during the march.

Raleigh police accompanied the students as they marched the two miles from the N. C. State campus to the Capitol down half of Hillsborough Street.

The students began organizing at about 11 a. m. and the march began shortly after 2 p. m. when a 400-car motorcade of students arrived from Chapel Hill.

Before leaving State campus, march organizers cautioned the students that "everything depends upon our remaining peaceful" and led the students in singing the national anthem.

The march was greeted by onlookers along the route, both supporters and detractors.

In the 1000 block of Hillsborough Street, a middle-aged lady stood stern-faced on the porch of her sedate residence. She observed the bobbing heads of long hair, the sandals, the bell-bottom trousers and the gaudy shirts and occasional broad ties and she said, "I wish they were mine ... I'd go out there and wring their necks ... I don't like war, but we've got our leaders ... They're (the students) not capable of leading themselves."

[...]

As the marchers passed the cylindrical Holiday Inn, from a high balcony two women wearing hair curlers and apparently night gowns waved and gave peace signs. -- The News & Observer 5/8/1970

The purpose of the march was to convince Governor Bob Scott to withdraw his support of Nixon's decision to send troops to Cambodia and to promise not to use National Guard troops on NC campuses. While Governor Scott expressed appreciation for their concerns, he did not agree to their demands. In response, student leaders at NCSU called for a class boycott.

Cathy Sterling, president-elect of the NCSU student body, called the strike Sunday. "The response from Gov. Scott, while it was more than expected, still is not enough." Miss Sterling said in a statement. "More can be done.

"I am calling for a general strike of the University as an extension of the march Friday," she said.

Later, Miss Sterling changed the wording of her statement so that, she said, it would not seem she was calling for the closing of the university. She changed the words "general strike" to "peace retreat." -- The News & Observer 5/11/1970

A similar strike was underway at UNC-CH, but classes continued at Duke, ECU and Wake Forest. ECU students had demanded that the American flag on campus be lowered to half-mast in memory of the Kent State students. After a three-hour confrontation with university administrators and police, the flag was lowered. At Duke University Law School, a portrait of Richard Nixon that hung in the school's moot courtroom, was removed to a "safe place."

Remembrance

Submitted by tleonard on 11/11/2011 - 08:17

Tags: Past Times | anniversary | Front Page | war

A.C. Snow, columnist and former editor of The Raleigh Times, wrote in 1968 about the 50th anniversary of the Armistice ending World War I.

Fifty years ago this morning, three Raleigh men stood on a hill overlooking the plains in Metz, France.

Their ears were ringing from the bombardment of a night's artillery barrage.

Precisely at 11 a. m., 50 years ago, the world's greatest silence settled over the hills and the plains. And then, as in the case of all wars that end, all hell -- of the happiness kind -- broke loose.

World War I. It was a war 50 years ago. The first big war, it was a war to end war, to make the world safe for democracy. It was the first of the big wars in a long time.

[...]

"We knew the night before the war was to end at 11 o'clock the next morning," recalls William Y. Collie, local real estate executive.

"I was at an observation post overlooking the plains outside Metz in Alsace-Lorraine. "I was to look for a signal from the infantry for another barrage from our guns. Our artillery had been very busy during the night.

"At precisely 11 o'clock, everything stopped. There was a great stillness. Then everyone started yelling. We ran forward to meet the Germans to exchange souvenirs."

Collie traded a package of cigarettes to a German for his cigarette lighter. "He seemed to be as happy as I was."

Collie was 18 at the time, a freshman at the University of North Carolina, where another member of his outfit, the 113th Field Artillery, was a sophomore. All members of the 113th were volunteers.

Earl Johnson, insurance executive, ... was in Samur, France when the French went wild in celebration at the armistice

"Most everybody volunteered that I know," recalls Johnson. "We didn't burn draft cards in those days. We didn't have draft cards."

"World War I was a different kind of war than the kind we know today.

"The infantry really had it rough," he said. "They lived in trenches knee deep in water with rats for company."

He said there probably was less body contact then than in more recent wars.

"Mostly it was just out of the trenches, over the top and shooting it out with the Germans for the next line of trenches."

[...]

"You could have heard a pin drop," said E.M. (Skinny) Taylor of Commercial Printing Company here.

"We were in position to back up the infantry and we were headed for Metz 15 miles away. We had camped out in the woods all night," said Taylor. "I understand that some of the boys up in the trenches were ordered over the top that morning and many of them died."

Taylor and Col. William T. Joyner, local attorney, were together during much of the War.

[...]

World War I was a vivid contrast to later wars, Colonel Joyner notes.

"It was mostly trench fighting. There was almost a complete absence of airplanes and there were very few tanks.

"Our 75 millimeter guns were pulled by horses -- six-horse teams. Officers and non-commissioned officers escorted them on horseback. We would go in support of the artillery and were from 200 yards to half a mile back of the enemy.

"I suppose you might say that World War I saw the end of the cavalry and the advent of the air force -- on a very limited basis."

Colonel Joyner said the planes were used primarily as aids in observations. They were used to protect observation posts and that's usually what the highly fictionalized dogfights in the air were about.

"The air balloon was unique to this war. It was used to spot artillery. Anchored to the ground, the balloon would carry a parachutist aloft. It was the object of the enemy aircraft to shoot down the balloon. If the observation man was lucky, he floated to earth safely in his parachute if the enemy pilot so chose."

Col. Gordon Smith of Raleigh fought in the trenches during World War I in Northern France.

He engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

"The English put a lot of emphasis on the bayonet," he recalled.

"You might say that the bayonet came of age then..."

Those 50 years later, the veterans still met downtown for coffee and remembrance.

... the raise their cups in a toast to peace -- if not in their time, at lest in some future generation's time.

National Guard's "Citizen Soldiers"

Submitted by lgarrett on 04/10/2009 - 15:35

Tags: Army | interactive | Iraq | National Guard | war

The 4,000 or so soldiers with the North Carolina Army National Guard's 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team who are deploying to Iraq in April are not ... more

1253721610 National Guard's "Citizen Soldiers" The News and Observer Copyright 2011 The News and Observer . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.