Clara Booth Byrd: Alumnae Secretary

Clara Booth Byrd said it best when she described her role as alumnae secretary:

"My great desire is to do all in my power to hold the alumnae close to the college, keeping their shoulders to the wheel and doing everything possible to stand by and support our leaders in their task of building a great educational institution on this campus." 

"Perhaps the greatest thing we can do for our college is to build good will - good will among the alumnae and good will among the people at large.  I think it doesn't matter very much whether that good will is expressed through gifts of money for scholarships or other purposes, or through work with our representatives in the Legislature, or through interesting the best students to apply for admission, or simply through keeping up with what is going on and passing the good word to our friends - the important thing is that we express this thing of good will."

Clara Booth Byrd

Miss Byrd first came to the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) in 1908 as a student.  In July 1913, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. After entering the college, she quickly became involved in the administration.  She taught classes for the Commercial Department (1909-1922) under E.J. Forney and worked as an assistant to the college treasurer (1916-1922).

In 1922, Miss Byrd embarked on a new path at the college.  She became the Alumnae Secretary and editor for the Alumae News.  Over the next 25 years, Miss Byrd would revolutionize the role of the Alumnae Secretary, increasing the quality and consistency of documentation on the college's graduates and revamping the alumni publication.  She established a office to organize and hold alumnae records and serve as a station for local clubs and associations.  Miss Byrd was heavily involved in alumni and community organizations, serving as vice president of the American Alumni Council, first vice president and director of institutes for the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs, and editor for the Council of Women in Education.  She was also a member of the Guilford Battle Chapter of the DAR, the Historical Museum, Friends of the Public Library, the YWCA, and other local church societies. 

Her crowning achievement as Alumae Secretary was realized with the opening of the Alumnae House (now Alumni House) in 1937.  The building was designed by Penrose V. Stout of Bronxville, New York, and modeled after Homewood in Baltimore, Maryland.  Miss Byrd, along with President Foust, worked tirelessly to solicit donations from alumni and secure a appropriations from the North Carolina Legislature.  The Great Depression temporarily halted plans for construction, but with the aid of WPA workers, the building become reality.

Miss Byrd on the steps of the Alumnae House

In 1947, Miss Byrd resigned from her position at the college, but she continued to be an active member of the community.  She traveled throughout state, speaking to clubs and associations on various topics.  She became the founder and first president of the Historical Book Club, where she served for eighteen years (1947-1965).  During the late 1960s, she served as the president of the Friends of the Walter Clinton Jackson Library (now Friends of the University Libraries.

Miss Byrd passed away on May 22, 1985.  Her memorial was held at the Alumni House.

Eloise Lewis: Founding Dean of UNCG's School of Nursing

Eloise Patricia Rallings Lewis was born on April 22, 1920 in Pageland, South Carolina, the fourth daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. Monroe Rallings, a country medical practitioner and a college speech teacher. She graduated from Pageland High School in 1936. Lewis attended Winthrop College (now Winthrop University) in Rock Hill, South Carolina, for two years, and then transferred in 1938 to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated in 1941 from their hospital school program.

After her graduation from Vanderbilt, Lewis moved immediately into the world of education, serving on the faculty of the Women’s Medical College School of Nursing in Philadelphia from 1941 until 1943. From 1943 to 1945, she was an instructor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Lewis in 1945

In the Spring of 1945, however, Lewis left academia to join the Army Nurse Corps. After attending basic training at Fort Lee in Virginia, she became the assistant director of the Cadet Nurse Corps at the Valley Forge General Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, which was a primary burn and blind center. She was discharged in December 1945 as a first lieutenant.

After leaving the Army Nurse Corps, Lewis returned to teaching, serving on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania from 1946 until 1952. She also earned her master’s degree in education from Penn in 1951. In 1953, she became a charter member of the faculty at the School of Nursing at UNC Chapel Hill. While teaching at Chapel Hill, she also earned a doctorate in education at Duke University in 1963.

At this same time, discussions began about the need for a second school of nursing in the state -- one that would be placed at UNCG. In 1964, the North Carolina legislature passed the “New Nurse Practice Act,” which laid the groundwork for the establishment of a baccalaureate in nursing degree at UNCG. The following year, on June 5, 1965, Governor Dan K. Moore, chair of the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees, pronounced the appropriation of monies for a four year program in nursing at UNCG. Eight months later on February 1, 1966, Eloise Lewis left Chapel Hill to become the first dean of the newly-created School of Nursing at UNCG.

Upon Lewis's arrival, UNCG's new School of Nursing was headquartered in the basement of the campus infirmary building – one of the least desirable campus locations. Lewis purposefully chose this spot for the School as it proved the most promising base from which to negotiate construction of a new building. Her assumptions were correct, and in 1969, the university opened the new School of Nursing building on McIver Street (now the Moore Building).

Under Lewis's leadership, the School of Nursing grew quickly. On April 27, 1970, the School of Nursing was accredited by the National League of Nursing. The following month, the first class of 18 students completes the requirements for the Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. The School was notified on July 30 that all graduates passed the State Board Examinations and were licensed to practice as registered nurses.

During her time as dean, Lewis also continued to be very active within the UNCG community and in various professional organizations. In 1976, she won the prestigious O Max Gardner award for excellence in teaching. She served as president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing from 1978 to 1980 and was the first editor of the Journal of Professional Nursing in the mid-1980s. She was also very active with hospice care in Greensboro and received numerous awards for her contributions to the nursing field, including four honorary degrees.

Lewis retired from her role as the founding dean of the School of Nursing in 1985 after holding the position for 19 years. She passed away in 1999. In 2008, she was inducted into the North Carolina Nursing Association's Hall of Fame. Upon her induction, a colleague noted, "Dean Lewis affected the lives of countless nursing students who have since graduated and become leaders in nursing not only in NC but around the world. I could go on listing hundreds of nurses that came through the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Nursing who to this day feel a common bond and connection because they were touched by Dean Lewis."

Dr. Anna Howard Shaw: Noted Suffragist and Namesake of UNCG Dormitory

Dr. Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919)

Shaw Residence Hall, located on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), is one of the few buildings not named in honor of someone officially associated with the University. Yet, the connection between the college and the noted suffragist, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, was an important one. She would ultimately leave the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG) significant scholarship funds in her will, and the college would name a dormitory in Shaw’s honor.

A native of England, Anna Howard Shaw immigrated to the United States with her family in 1847. She spent much of her childhood with her mother and four young siblings in the wilderness of Michigan, where her father had purchased a 360-acre tract of land and sent his wife and children to live there alone. At fifteen, Shaw became a school teacher, but felt that her true calling was to be a preacher. While her chosen field met strong disapproval from her family and friends, she persevered and earned her own way through Albion College in Michigan and Boston University School of Theology. Shaw was the only woman in her graduating class. In 1880, she was ordained as the first female minister in the Methodist Protestant Church. She continued her education, earning a medical degree from Boston University in 1886. Choosing not to practice medicine, Shaw became increasingly involved with the Temperance and Suffrage Movements, developing a strong friendship with women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony. Shaw was elected president of the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1904, and was appointed the Chairman of the Women’s Committee of the United States Council of National Defense during World War I.

Shaw at Commencement 1919

It was political science professor, Harriet Elliott, who first extended an invitation to Shaw to speak at the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG). The two women met at a lecture at Columbia University and their personal interest in suffrage and women’s rights led to a fast friendship. During these politically active years, State Normal was fortunate to have several strong suffrage advocates speak to the student body. Shaw spoke at the school on three occasions between 1917 - 1919. She felt especially close to the State Normal girls, stating that the spirit of the school was “inspiring and unique.”

In spring 1919, the senior class requested that Shaw speak at their graduation. The Class of 1919 considered themselves the “wartime class,” as their college years overlapped the time that the United States was involved in World War I. The students were anxious to hear Shaw’s vision the post-war world. Interrupting a national tour promoting the League of Nations, an ailing Shaw traveled down from Washington to speak at the college’s commencement. In her address, Shaw commended the young students for their wartime campus mobilization efforts and asked that they redefine their post-war roles as moral leaders for the peace. She understood that the true legacy of the war was this generation of young women that would shortly gain the vote and become more politically active than at any other time in American history. At the commencement exercises, college president, Julius Foust, announced that the new campus dormitory would be named in Shaw’s honor. She would die only two months later on July 2, 1919, a year before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote.

Shaw Residence Hall, designed by Harry Barton, opened in 1919

The Black Arts Forum and Black History Month Celebrations at UNCG, 1969-1985

In its first full year of recognition and funding from the Student Government Association, the Neo-Black Society focused much of its programming on the sponsorship of black cultural events and speakers on the UNCG campus. The 1969-1970 academic year saw the launch of the annual Black Arts Forum, featuring a performance by "The Believers" (a "musical-drama group"), the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, and an exhibit in Elliott Hall of art by African American students at schools throughout the Piedmont region. Typically, this celebration took place in February (nationally, Black History Week was first proposed in 1926; it was expanded to Black History Month in February 1970).

In the early 1980s, the Black Arts Forum transitioned into a broader campus-wide observance of Black History Month. The Neo-Black Society remained a primary coordinator of the Black History Month celebration, but the Student Government Association and other campus departments and students groups also participated in planning and coordinating the events. 

NBS Dance Troupe performs during the 1984 Black History Month celebration

In 1984, UNCG's Black History Month celebration kicked off on January 31 with a speech by Julian Bond. At the time, Bond was a Georgia state senator, but he had previously served as one of the co-founders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (he later served as chairman of the NAACP from 1998-2010 and as the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center). The event featuring Bond was held at UNCG's Aycock Auditorium, but was organized and featured student performers and speakers from across Greensboro. In addition to UNCG students, others from North Carolina A&T University, Guilford College, Bennett Colleve, Guilford Tech, and Greensboro College participated in the program. Immediately prior to Bond's speech, which was titled "What Next?," the audience was entertained by a performance featured the combined voices of North Carolina A&T's United Christian Fellowship Choir and UNCG's Neo-Black Society Choir. 

In 1985, the Black History Month celebration had a large focus on the work of African American playwright and writer Lorraine Hansberry. The year marked the 25th anniversary of the first production of drama A Raisin in the Sun, and UNCG organized a four-day Lorraine Hansberry Seminar series centered around the work. Dr. Linda Brown Bragg, who taught creative writing and African American literature in UNCG's Residential College, delivered the opening lecture titled "Lorraine Hansberry: American Writer--International Consciousness." The following evening, UNCG history professor Dr. Loren Schweninger discussed A Raisin the Sun from a historical perspective. Dr. Femi Richards, who was serving as a distinguished visiting professor in the UNCG School of Home Economics, followed the next night with a lecture on "The African Aesthetic and Design Components in A Raisin in the Sun." The series was concluded with a lecture by Lorraine Hansberry scholar Deborah J. Wood, who spoke on "Lorraine Hanserry's Chicago Realism."

NBS Gospel Choir members in 1985

1985 also saw a Black Alumni Reunion weekend from February 22-24. The featured event of the weekend was a lecture by Dr. Mary Frances Berry, a civil rights leader who had been the first woman to serve as chancellor of a major research university. She served on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and in 1984 co-founded the Free South Africa Movement. Additional events that weekend included a banquet featuring a speech by Joanna Smart Drane, one of the first African Americans admitted to Woman's College (now UNCG), and a showing of the Prince movie Purple Rain. 

African American Faculty Members at UNCG, 1967-1969

While the Woman's College (now UNCG) student body was desegregated in 1956 (for more information see this post), the faculty did not include any African Americans for more than a decade. In fact, in 1964, the UNCG faculty council actually defeated by a narrow margin a resolution endorsing "the merit employment of faculty and staff personnel at this institution without regard to race, color, creed, or sex."

Ernestine Small

It was not until 1967 that the university hired the first African American into a faculty position when Ernestine Small joined the School of Nursing. Small received her B.S. in Nursing from Tuskegee Institute in 1963. While at Tuskegee Institute, she was a member of Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society. She would later go on to receive her M.S. in Medical-Surgical Nursing from the Catholic University of America. Prior to coming to UNCG, Small worked at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro as a staff nurse and for the United States Employment Service Professional Registry as a private Duty Nurse. In fact, when Moses Cone Hospital integrated its cafeteria, Small was the first African American employees to dine in the space.

In accepting the faculty position at UNCG in 1967, Small not only became the first African American faculty member on this campus but the first African American faculty member in nursing at any non-historically black institution in North Carolina. While at UNCG, Small served as an advisor to the Neo-Black Society and the Nu Rho chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. In 1989, she was the third recipient of UNCG’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award. She was also active in the North Carolina nursing community serving as the first African American president of the North Carolina Nurses Association (1979-1981) as well as being on the North Carolina Board of Nursing (1982-1985).

Odessa Patrick, featured in a previous Spartan Stories post, was the first African American academic staff member at Woman's College when she began work as a lab technician in 1958. It was not until 1969, however that she was granted faculty status. During her time as a faculty member, she taught courses covering the principles of biology, vertebrate physiology lab, invertebrate zoology lab and mammalian anatomy. Patrick was also actively involved on campus serving as an academic advisor, faculty advisor, laboratory coordinator, graduate advisor for the Omicron Eta Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and treasurer of the Black Faculty/Staff Association. She also received UNCG’s Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award (1991).

Joseph Himes

In 1969, Dr. Joseph Himes became the first African American to hold tenure at UNCG when he joined the university's sociology department. He was also the first African American to hold an endowed professorship at UNCG. At the time of his hiring, Himes was one of six African Americans on the UNCG faculty.

Himes received his B.A. and M.A. in Sociology and Economics from Oberlin College in 1931 and 1932 respectively. In 1938, he earned his Ph.D in Sociology and Economics from Ohio State University. Prior to his time at UNCG, Dr. Himes was a Fulbright lecturer at Helsinki University in Finland and Madras University in India. Additionally, he spent 23 years at North Carolina Central University as a professor of sociology.

Over the course of his career, he authored six books and published more than 100 articles in professional journals.  Himes earned numerous awards including UNCG’s first Martin Luther King Jr. Service Award (1967), the Irwin V. Sperry Award (1970) and the DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award for Race Relations (1980). He was actively involved in a number of professional organizations including the Southern Sociological Society where he served as president from 1965-1966 and the North Carolina Sociological Society, where he was not only one of the founders but also the first president (1969-1971).

Much of the information in this post was compiled by Lucy Mason, a student researcher who worked in University Archives during Summer 2015.

Restoration of Neo-Black Society Funding and the Ensuing Challenges, 1973

In the last two Spartan Stories, we looked at the founding of UNCG's Neo-Black Society (NBS) and the Spring 1973 Student Government Association (SGA) challenge to the organization's funding. At the end of last week's Spartan Stories post, UNCG Chancellor James Ferguson formed a faculty committee to investigate the Student Student Senate's March 1973 decision to revoke the Neo-Black Society's funding. Based on the committee's findings, he invalidated the Student Senate's decision.

But before the faculty committee's report was even released, a number of Student Government Association members (including those who filed the original petition against the NBS) hired attorney Michael K. Curtis to represent them. In a March 30, 1973, letter to Chancellor Ferguson and Dr. Kendon Smith, chair of the faculty committee investigating the ruling, Curtis wrote that his "clients are seriously disturbed by the recent action of the University establishing a faculty advisory committee to consider and possibly recommend reversal of the Student Senate's decision to terminate the funding of the Neo-Black Society."

Leon Chestnut, NBS coordinator

But, as we learned last week, the committee did indeed recommend that the NBS funding be restored, and Chancellor Ferguson agreed. Student Government Association vice president Jacqueline Coleman, one of the students represented by Curtis, responded to Ferguson's decision with a letter stating her intent to appeal his ruling to the UNCG Board of Trustees. Additionally, on April 3, the Student Senate passed a resolution asserting that the Chancellor's decision served to suspend "the grant of power to the Student Government Association."

Before the next Board of Trustees meeting, however, five individual students who had hired Curtis as their attorney filed suit in U.S. District Court in April. Many other UNCG students signed petitions making it clear that these individual students did not represent the opinion of the student body at large. The suit specifically named Chancellor Ferguson, members of the Board of Trustees, and two officers of the Neo-Black Society as defendants. One of the two was NBS coordinator Leon Chestnut.

At their June 4, 1973 meeting, the Board of Trustees found "that the action of the Chancellor in invalidating the action of the Student Senate of March 26-27, 1973 in reclassifying the Neo-Black Society was appropriate and correct, based upon the evidence presented to him." But the Board also concluded "in view of the contradictory nature of the evidence presented at the hearing on the appeal before the board on June 4, 1973, that the matter be remanded to the Student Senate for a hearing de novo on the classification of the Neo-Black Society, such hearing to be held within thirty days after the beginning of the Fall Semester, 1973."

Text of the Board of Trustees' June 4, 1973 decision

The University followed by filing a motion to dismiss the case in District Court. After fighting the dismissal, the students filing suit dropped their suit in November 1973. A consent order filed in January 1974 outlined the agreements reached by the court, the plaintiffs, and the defendants. The one stipulation outlined in the consent agreement refers specifically to a change to the Neo-Black constitution. The original NBS constitution stated "the aims of the Neo-Black Society are to promote understanding and a sense of unity among black students." In the consent order, the NBS agreed to change its constitution "in order to dispel any appearance of engaging in discriminatory practices." The new constitution clearly states that "the Neo-Black Society shall be open to and shall welcome all undergraduate students without regard to race, religion, color, creed, national origin, or sex." With that one revision, the lawsuit concluded and all parties agreed that NBS would receive full funding as "an official activity of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro."

The following Fall, on September 19, 1974, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James H. Allen, who had worked with NBS leadership throughout the funding challenge, wrote a memo to the NBS membership as they planned their annual banquet. He wrote "the contributions of the Neo-Black Society to racial understanding and an appreciation of the contribution of the Black culture and heritage are important to the educational mission of the University. I look forward with you to a significant year of achievement for the Society and offer my support to you in whatever ways necessary in accomplishing your goals for the year."

Neo-Black Society at Risk: The 1973 Challenge of NBS's Funding

In last week's Spartan Stories post, we looked at the 1967 Black Power Forum and its impact on the founding of UNCG's Neo-Black Society (NBS) in 1968. The founding of the NBS, however, did not come without controversy. Some students accused the NBS of "reverse racism," claiming that they refused to admit white students to the organization.

In February 1973, six white UNCG students filed a complaint with the Student Government Association's Committee on Classification of Organizations, calling for the revocation of NBS's standing as a financially-supported student organization. At the time, NBS had a membership of approximately 145 students. This petition cited two major complaints from those students regarding NBS membership and activities. At least four of the six petitioners were current Student Government Association (SGA) senators.

Two students in the NBS Lounge, 1973

The bulk of the petition focused on a claim that NBS was in violation of SGA bylaws due to "a direct link between NBS and YOBU -- a Black Separatist, anti-White group." YOBU (the Youth Organization for Black Unity, previously the Student Organization for Black Unity) was a Greensboro-based group that formed in 1969, growing out of the Black Power Movement. The petitioners claimed that YOBU "is limited to Black persons only," and, due to their alleged affiliation, NBS would limit its membership too. The petitioners noted that this violated SGA bylaws requiring organizations to "be open to any and all undergraduates." It also claims that UNCG's support of the NBS "placed both UNC-G and NBS very possibly in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, given NBS's association with YOBU."

On Sunday, February 25, 1973, a hearing was held by the SGA Committee on Classification of Organizations to investigate the claims made in the petition. The Committee determined that the petitioners statements did not meet the burden for reclassifying NBS and revoking its funding. Specifically in regards to affiliation with YOBU, the Committee stated that "no direct link has been proven to exist between the NBS and YOBU for the 1972-1973 school year," noting that the only evidence that the petitioners brought forth in support of this claim was that an NBS member "had her way paid to a YOBU open state conference with funds provided for her by NBS."

The Committee also found that additional claims of membership limitations based on race did not violate SGA bylaws. The Committee did suggest a small wording change for the NBS constitution to clarify the organization's intent, noting that the current wording of the NBS constitution "might induce misapprehension in the minds of those uninitiated in the intricacies of constitutional legality." Specifically, the Committee recommended replacing the sentence "Members and their invited guests may attend" to "Meetings must be open to the entire student body unless business pertinent only to NBS membership is being considered." You can read the full decision by the Committee here.

A full meeting of the Student Senate was held on March 20 to discuss the Neo-Black Society. Additionally, "open" and "executive" Senate sessions took place on March 26 and 27. In these sessions, SGA "heard appeals, rebuttals, and counter-rebuttals from delegations representing both the Neo-Black Society and the Senate." A Senate vote was taken over the NBS funding, and, acting counter to the findings of the Committee on Classifications of Organizations, the Senate voted to reclassify the NBS, removing its funding and rights to use university facilities.

A scuffle ensued in the Senate chambers after the decision was handed down. At least one student received treatment at a hospital after the incident. One Neo-Black Society member was later found guilty of assault by the Greensboro District Court. On the night of March 27, hundreds of students gathered at the Mossman Building for a sit-in demonstration to protest the Student Senate's decision. Estimates of student participation on that first night of demonstration are as high as 750 (including both black and white students).

Letter from Ferguson to NBS Coordinator Leon Chestnut
stating his decision to invalidate the SGA decision, Mach 31, 1973

Chancellor James Ferguson immediately convened a faculty committee to investigate the Senate's actions. An official report from the committee was filed with Chancellor Ferguson on March 31, advising "that the reclassification of the Neo-Black Society by the Student Senate was not justified. The Committee finds that the evidence presented did not establish the validity of the substantive charges. Furthermore, the Senate's procedure in dealing with the charges against the Neo-Black Society involved such serious improprieties as to limit the rights of the Society under rules of due process and fairness." Specifically, the report found that "new evidence of a substantial nature was introduced during the executive session, beyond the scrutiny of the NBS representative." It also reported that the Senate questionably chose to exclude NBS and Senate member Donna Benson from voting on the issue, while allowing four other Senators who had been original petitioners to vote.

This, however, did not end the question of funding and status for the Neo-Black Society at UNCG. Check back next week to learn more about the SGA reactions to Ferguson's faculty committee report and the ensuing legal procedures.