History & Classics

Event Title

Chapel Hill and the Bowdlerized Image of Civil Rights

Presenter Information

Michael Grathwohl, Earlham College

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Location

Indianapolis, IN

Subject Area

History & Classics

Start Date

11-4-2014 10:30 AM

End Date

11-4-2014 11:45 AM

Description

In an act that has come to symbolize Chapel Hill's civil rights history, University of North Carolina men's basketball coach Dean Smith helped to test integration at a local restaurant called The Pines shortly after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This event reinforced Chapel Hill's conception of itself as an enlightened town in the midst of a benighted state; integration supposedly came easily, and the people of Chapel Hill needed only to be gently nudged in the right direction by small, meaningful acts from local heroes like Smith. This project details Chapel Hill's civil rights history from 1960-1965, which in reality was far from tranquil, and critically examines the means by which a hostile and violent period of the town's history was bowdlerized and transformed into an idyllic symbol of progressivism. It suggests that this censorship was aided by the insistence of white liberal supporters that the movement display a certain civility in its actions; the narrative focus on Smith's action at The Pines not only obscured the vibrant (and increasingly radical) movement that preceded it, but reinforced for white liberals the the necessity and the virtue of patient, non-confrontational means of protest. Finally, by situating Chapel Hill within the larger context of North Carolina, this project demonstrates that the effects of the picturesque narrative of civil rights in Chapel Hill continue to this day, as the town continues to hide racial inequality behind a veneer of liberalism.

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Apr 11th, 10:30 AM Apr 11th, 11:45 AM

Chapel Hill and the Bowdlerized Image of Civil Rights

Indianapolis, IN

In an act that has come to symbolize Chapel Hill's civil rights history, University of North Carolina men's basketball coach Dean Smith helped to test integration at a local restaurant called The Pines shortly after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This event reinforced Chapel Hill's conception of itself as an enlightened town in the midst of a benighted state; integration supposedly came easily, and the people of Chapel Hill needed only to be gently nudged in the right direction by small, meaningful acts from local heroes like Smith. This project details Chapel Hill's civil rights history from 1960-1965, which in reality was far from tranquil, and critically examines the means by which a hostile and violent period of the town's history was bowdlerized and transformed into an idyllic symbol of progressivism. It suggests that this censorship was aided by the insistence of white liberal supporters that the movement display a certain civility in its actions; the narrative focus on Smith's action at The Pines not only obscured the vibrant (and increasingly radical) movement that preceded it, but reinforced for white liberals the the necessity and the virtue of patient, non-confrontational means of protest. Finally, by situating Chapel Hill within the larger context of North Carolina, this project demonstrates that the effects of the picturesque narrative of civil rights in Chapel Hill continue to this day, as the town continues to hide racial inequality behind a veneer of liberalism.