Campus Literary Societies

Today's post was written by Kristen Thomas, a senior history major. Kristen interned in Special Collections and University Archives during the Spring semester, and constructed both a physical and online exhibit (http://library.uncg.edu/collection/exhibits/Campus_Literary_Societies.aspx) on the history of campus literary societies. Here, she writes about the founding and activities of these organizations.

Today, there are dozens of student groups to choose from on campus. But, back when The State Normal and Industrial School (now known as UNCG) was first founded, there was no such thing as campus organizations. That changed when President Charles McIver discovered a group of students had created their own sorority in secret.

Adelphian Society performance, 1913

Sororities had already been banned on campus, with McIver believing that they would lead to students feeling left out. McIver’s goal was to make sure all students could be included, emphasising his democratic approach to education. However, there were many who wanted a sorority-like group on campus. So McIver decided to create the Literary Societies.

He charged two students, Mary Arrington and Alice Green, with organizing these groups with the help of certain faculty members. They decided that the student body would be divided in half, each belonging to one of the societies. They were sorted at random, with names being drawn from a hat.  Once the students had been grouped, they settled to finding a name. The group created by Arrington was named the Adelphian Society and the one by Green the Cornelian Society.

Each society created their own secret initiation rites and rituals, which were only known to the members of the group. For a while, even many of the officers were kept a secret. Despite the secret nature of the societies, they did come together in order to produce plays, debates, and simple luncheons, sometimes in honor of the other society. For the first 25 years they were on campus, they facilitated much of the activities outside of the classroom.

Aletheian Society initiation, 1940

In 1918, the campus had grown to such a size that the two societies were becoming too large to function as they did before. A third society was chartered, with members being pulled from the already existing societies. They became the Dikean Society and adapted smoothly into campus life. A fourth, the Aletheians, was added in 1923. Both societies created their own rituals and secret initiations, and functioned much like the Cornelian and Adelphian societies.

By the 1930s, the influence of the societies has waned as other groups had taken shape on campus, such as the Student Government Association and the YWCA. They still held an important role as social groups and the election of marshals, a function they held until their disbandment.

As time went, the students began to group themselves more by class than by societies. Many felt that the societies had grown too large to continue to serve the campus effectively and participation had waned in favor of other groups. In 1953, after a vote was taken across campus in favor of disbandment, the presidents of all four groups formally agreed in a letter submitted to the university to bring the end of the societies.

WC Students, Tate Street, and Desegregation in 1963

While the February 1960 sit-in at Greensboro’s F.W. Woolworth store downtown is well known, fewer people are knowledgeable about a second round of protests that escalated in Greensboro in the Spring of 1963. A number of Woman’s College (WC) students participated in the 1960 sit-ins, but the 1963 movement hit the students of WC a bit closer to home. While the protests stretched around town, one aspect of the movement was primarily targeted at businesses located on Tate Street, in the area known as “The Corner.”

Chancellor Otis Singletary

On February 27, 1963, 23 WC students (most African American) wrote Chancellor Otis Singletary asking him to immediately begin working towards desegregation of the Corner, a business area adjacent to the WC campus. The students wrote “This college has accepted us as students, therefore, as members of the Woman’s College community. Since we are accepted as such, we feel that the college has the responsibility of seeing that we receive the same privileges as any other member of this community. As of now, we are not granted such opportunities.” They added that “the decision to accept Negro students to Woman’s College implies the decision to give them your full moral support, not just a limited, partial support.”

The letter to Singletary earned a swift response. On March 13, he set up a meeting with a local business owner and Dean of Students Katherine Taylor. In the meeting, Singletary stressed that he recognized that he had no official authority to dictate policy to the business owners of the Corner, but he wished to request “unofficially that all students at the Woman’s College be served at the Corner eating places and admitted to the Cinema Theatre.” Singletary warned that, if the present segregationist policy continued, the students would likely begin picketing and boycotting these businesses.

On that same day - March 13, 1963 - the WC Student Government Association passed a resolution urging Singletary to "use his authority and influence as a college official" to convince owners of business on the Corner to desegregate their facilities. Specifically, they called out two restaurants - the Apple House and the Town and Country – as well as the Cinema Theatre on Tate Street. SGA’s resolution carried the same argument as the letter from the students to Singletary – the WC is integrated and its local businesses should be too.

SGA resolution calling for a boycott
of segregated businesses on Tate Street, 1963

 Three days later on Thursday, May 16, 1963, the WC SGA issued a call for "selective buying campaign" directed at the Tate Street merchants. On that same day, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants Association passed resolutions calling for equal access in all local businesses. Coinciding with a week of massive marches and demonstrations around Greensboro, approximately two dozen WC students picketed the offending Tate Street businesses they considered part of their campus community. One local businessman wrote Dean of Students Taylor that “it was disturbing, to say the least, to observe the fine looking young ladies harassing these local businessmen by parading before their places of business today … They appear determined to destroy our way of life and some of the business people whose taxes are educating them.”

Rallies and protests continued throughout Greensboro during the summer months. On May 22, 1963, more than two thousand African Americans of all ages and classes silently marched to downtown Greensboro to show their dedication to achieving racial equality, making it the largest march in the city’s history. A few days later, 1,643 white residents of Greensboro allowed their names to be published by the Greensboro Daily News in a full-page and partial-page ad in support of the integration of Greensboro’s businesses. On June 4, over five hundred students and adults joined North Carolina A&T student body president Jesse Jackson in a silent march. The next evening, Jackson led close to seven hundred African Americans to City Hall and was charged with “inciting a riot.” Protests continued throughout town, leading Greensboro Mayor David Schenk to issue an appeal to all businesses to desegregate immediately and for activists to halt their protests.

By June 13, eight more Greensboro restaurants chose to desegregate, making approximately one-quarter of local establishments open to African Americans. In July, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants Association insisted on a resolution calling for the immediate desegregation of all public spaces. And by the fall of 1963, close to 40 percent of Greensboro businesses had been integrated – including the institutions on Tate Street.

More information about the 1963 desegregation protests and marches – including more images and original documents – can be found at Civil Rights Greensboro.

Fraternities and sororities at UNCG

Prior to the founding of the State Normal and Industrial School (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) in 1891, Charles Duncan McIver was very supportive of the notion of societies for the female students.  In 1893, the Adelphian and Cornelian became the first two literary societies on campus and almost all of the students joined either one of the two groups.  In the years following, a joint committee of students would divide the list of new freshman girls and place them within either society.  Society invitations and initiations became an exciting time for each student as some expressed great joy in their placement while others were visibly upset. In 1896, fourteen girls attempted to create their own secret society tied to a Greek letter sorority.  Upon discovering this, McIver quickly reproached the girls and demanded they disband the group or face expulsion, believing such exclusive secret organizations were inappropriate to the mission of public education.  Two other literary societies would later be established on the campus as student body population continued to grow.  In 1918, the Dikean Society was founded and the Aletheian Society was later established in 1923.  The societies would continue to operate as part of student life on the campus until 1953 when they were abolished by a student vote. 

The next several decades saw a general distain by the administration regarding the establishment of a Greek system.  In 1975, believing social sororities (and later fraternities) to be elitist, divisive, and irrelevant to academics, a faculty committee voted against the issue of whether to establish a Greek system at UNCG. However, recurring student interested prompted a second study in 1977-1979 and found that thirty-one percent of the student population would consider joining a fraternity or sorority.  With such support, the Board of Trustees approved a five year trial period for a Greek system and in 1980 the first rush took place. By the fall of 1981, there were seven fraternities and seven sororities officially recognized on the campus.  With continuing interest and growth, the five year probationary period expired and a Greek system was official established at UNCG in 1984.  As of 2012, there were ten social fraternities and social eleven sororities on the UNCG campus.

One key iconic symbol that is shared by UNCG fraternities and sororities is the Rock.  The Rock is a 12.7 ton boulder that was imported to the campus from a rock quarry in nearby Jamestown by the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity in 1973.  It was placed between the dining halls and dormitories and would serve as a message board for the various fraternal organization as it was continuously painted over again and again.  There exists an unwritten rule that a groups message has to stay up for twenty four hours before being written over.  Prior to the Rock, students would paint and decorate the statue of Charles Duncan McIver as way to promote their messages.  However, after years of continued abuse, the statute was beginning to deteriorate thus prompting a new method of communication.

May Day Celebrations on Campus

May Pole Dancers, 1916

The tradition of celebrating May Day can be traced back to the pre-Christian era when the first day of May marked the end of winter in Northern Europe.  Rituals celebrated fertility and the planting of new crops with gathering flowers, dancing around a tall pole, and crowning a queen.  Traditions such as selecting a May queen and dancing around a May Pole decorated with flowers and ribbons were incorporated into the modern European and American cultures.

Scene from St. George and the Dragon, 1912

Between 1910 and the entry of the United States into World War I, Elizabethan May Day celebrations were very popular, especially at women’s colleges.  The State Normal & Industrial College, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, was no exception.

The first May Day celebration on this campus was in 1904 and featured a musical program by the Boston Festival Orchestra.  The 1912 and 1916 May Day pageants were the most outstanding celebrations with students, faculty, and Curry training school students participating.  Almost 3,000 people from all over North Carolina came to the campus for the 1912 festival to see the 1,000 players in the five-hour pageant.  More than 1,200 players from the college and training school participated in the 1916 celebration.

May Queen Marietta Muller, 1938

The theme for both pageants was an Old English May Day with the crowning of a May Day queen, aesthetic gymnastics, folk dances, dramatic performances, games, and parades directed by drama teacher Mary Settle Sharpe.

World War I interrupted the College’s May Day festivals and the pageant was not resumed until the mid 1920s.  The celebrations during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940 were much less elaborate events and usually consisted only of a May Day queen and her court.

The last May Day celebration, sponsored by the senior class, was held in 1954.   Since the pageant was so close to commencement and consumed so much energy, money, and time, the senior class voted to abolish the tradition.   

May Queen and Court, 1954

Beating the Heat at Yum Yum

The warmer weather of spring brings out birds and flowers -- and a need for ice cream! At UNCG, for over 90 years, students, faculty, and staff have been able to beat the heat with a tasty cone from the Yum Yum ice cream shop.

The original site of Yum Yum, with construction
on the Jackson Library tower in the background, 1973

This campus tradition dates back to 1921, when Wisdom Brown (W. B.) Aydelette opened his now-famous ice cream shop on the corner of Spring Garden Street and Forest Avenue. It sat at the edge of the campus then known as the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG). Because the site what on the western edge of the Greensboro city limits at the time, the store was named West End Ice Cream Company.

At first, there were only a few flavors of homemade ice cream offered -- vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. But soon, the owner introduced a flavor he called "yum yum," an ice cream that is believed to have included soggy Grape Nuts cereal. According to popular tales, the flavor itself was never very popular, but the name was soon adopted for the store itself (although the formal "West End Ice Cream Company" remains).

Students at the Woman's College (as UNCG was known from 1932-1963) flocked to Yum Yum for its food as well as its atmosphere. In a 1994 interview with the Carolinian, alumnae Sharon Garrett remembered Yum Yum as a place to relax and escape from the restrictive residence hall lifestyle of the 1960s. "When we were there," she noted, "it represented some sort of freedom and just being together with your friends. It was like a breath of fresh air."

Yum Yum at its current location, 2002

In 1973, the building that housed Yum Yum was condemned and scheduled to be replaced with a new administration building (now the Mossman Building) for the expanding UNCG campus. Aydlette was able to acquire a building on the opposite corner across Spring Garden from his former site, and moved his operations across the street.

Aydelette passed away in 1984 at the age of 97, but his family continues his legacy today.

The History of Class Jackets at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Leather Class Jacket, 1

The tradition of class jackets made its debut at the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG) in the late 1920s. Before the jackets became popular, the girls wore hats and sweaters in the class colors of green, red, blue, and lavender.  This color scheme would be a continuing tradition with class jackets, although during the lavender years the girls preferred to substitute black, charcoal, or camel colored jackets. Early jackets had unique designs each year and were made of flannel, suede, or leather.  Eventually, they would evolve into standard wool blazers.

The first class jacket appeared in 1927. A blue flannel blazer was designed with white piping and “N.C.C. – ’29” on a front pocket emblem, signifying their graduating class year. Later jackets included the girls’ initials also placed on or directly above the pocket. After receiving their jackets, the students of the Class of 1929 paraded through the dining hall singing their class song, beginning a new tradition at the school. The jackets were so popular, that they continued into subsequent years. The distinctively colored jackets were bought during the sophomore year and were worn by the students for the remainder of their college days. An extra pocket was included for students who wanted to wear their jackets after graduation and additional material could be purchased for a matching skirt.  Jackets arrived during the fall of the students’ sophomore year, signifying that they were upperclassmen. “Jacket Day” was an important event as sophomores were given their jackets for the first time.

Wool Class Jacket, 1956

There was a great deal of pride associated with the jackets and the girls wore them on and off campus. This would be significant on February 1, 1960, when three white Woman’s College (now UNCG) students joined the Sit-ins occurring at the local Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter – wearing their class jackets. This protest, initiated by four African American North Carolina A&T students, was instrumental in the desegregation of downtown businesses. The college’s administration was not pleased to see their students figure so prominently in the Sit-ins, especially because of the visual association with the school that the class jackets provided. Although the students were allowed to remain in school, this controversial incident would foreshadow the changing mood of the 1960s which saw many school traditions fade into obscurity. After the school became coeducational in 1963, class jackets were one of the few traditions to remain intact. Male students were able to order class jackets, but it is unclear whether they were as popular as they had been with the girls. The tradition gradually died out, with the last class jacket being worn by the class of 1972.     

Origin of a Goddess: Minerva on the Consolidated University era seal

During the period of the Consolidated University of North Carolina (1931-1971), a seal for the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) appeared featuring an image of Minerva quite different from those previously used for the school's seal.

Letterhead from Consolidated University period

The seal appeared together with the seals of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University on official documents and letterhead from the office of the Consolidated University throughout this period.  The seal, by itself, was also used sporadically on items produced by the Woman's College such as Bulletins and Programs.

Seal from 1943 Bulletin of Courses

As has been discussed in previous blogs and exhibits, a wide variety of images has been used for our school's seal and unfortunately, we don't have much information on how many of these images came to be.  We still do not know who came up with the Consolidated University era seal, but we can now state that we know the original source of the image.
In the Louvre Museum in Paris, there is a Greek pot (Krater) dating back to about 460 B.C. This Krater, a form of Greek pottery used to mix wine and water, is an example of Attic red-figure painting. This particular Krater is the name vase of the Niobid Painter, so-called because of the scene depicting the slaughter of the children of Amphion and Niobe by Apollo and Artemis. The scene illustrates a central theme of the Greek world, Hubris, since Niobe had boasted that she had more children than Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis.

The Niobid Painter Krater, showing scenes on both sides

It is not the scene for which the Painter is named, but the scene on the opposite side (image on the right in the above picture), which reveals a familiar face (indicated with red arrow above).  It is a question of debate as to what this side of the Krater depicts, but there is no doubt about one particular figure.  Near the handles stands a robed figure of a woman, wearing an aegis (breastplate of armor) with the head of Medusa, a war helmet, and carrying a shield and spear.  Sound familiar? It's Athena, and it's the source of the image for the Consolidated University era Woman's College seal. The drawing taken from the Krater in the image below shows a better view of the goddess.1


Drawing from Niobid Painter Krater showing detail of Athena and seal



It's very clear that officials weren't aware of the origin of the image used in this seal. In 1963 when the official seal currently used by The University of North Carolina at Greensboro was adopted, long-time Registrar Hoyt Price curiously said, "the 1963 rendition of the university seal actually is more authentic in so far as Minerva is depicted, especially her headdress and the wreath around the figure."2  

1-The Niobid Painter Krater is located in the Louvre and designated as Louvre G341; All Images used here of the Krater are from Tufts University's Perseus Digital Library

2- Quote is from "Today on Campus" October 2, 1983.