1969 Greensboro uprising

1969 Greensboro uprising
Part of the Black Power movement
A&T Student Eddie Evans being taken into protective custody after members of the North Carolina National Guard raid W. Kerr Scott Hall
Date May 21 - 25 Location Greensboro, North Carolina Result government victory, revolt crushed
Belligerents
Activists Student Organization for Black Unity Student protesters Rioting locals	Authorities North Carolina Army National Guard Local Police
Casualties and losses
18 wounded 2 dead	9 wounded

Activists

Authorities

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 student bystander, 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". 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."

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. Their school was the only school in the district to place restrictions on student attire or forbid students leaving campus for lunch. But the catalyst for their uprising was their failure to elect a student council president of their choice.

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