Posted on a wall somewhere on campus, a flyer reads, “Opening of Black Week: African Boutique: Native Dress, Extended Family, Culture.”[1] Duke University’s campus life is energetically buzzing in 1969 as the school year approaches the midpoint of the spring semester. Like present day, the students were actively engaged in their communities, the Afro-American Society being one of the liveliest.[2] According to a campus publication, for roughly two and a half years, the Afro-American Society of Duke attempted to negotiate for equal rights among their fellow students and certain systems to help better the lives of the black students.[3] On February 13, 1969, roughly fifty black students decided their negotiations with the administration had not made enough progress and entered the Allen Building, occupying the administrative offices. They hoped to force the hand of the “bureaucratic machinery” and expedite the negotiations.[4] These actions were met with both support and criticism from the students, faculty, and surrounding citizens of Durham. The Black students felt they deserved more control over their academic lives at the university, causing them to challenge the “Man” and stand up for their beliefs. Their actions expedited the process of pushing towards the end of racial inequality at Duke University.

The student’s decision to occupy the Allen Administration Building was their last effort to make the university take the negotiations seriously, however it was not the first time such a tactic was used.  In November of 1967, circa the creation of the Afro-American Society, a group of students protested the use of segregated facilities by other student groups. These students staged a protest, called a “sit-in,” in front of President Knight’s door. As captioned by Duke’s flickr archive, “The Student-Faculty Administration Committee had been holding a meeting to discuss a policy regarding the use of segregated facilities, and later in the week student groups were no longer permitted to use segregated facilities for their events.”[5] The students peacefully, yet strategically, showed their position on the use of these facilities, as pictured below. They successfully protested the use of segregated facilities and demonstrated their wishes properly, resulting in a successful campaign. The theory behind occupying the Allen Building in 1969 was not one of desperation or last minute planning, but in fact the use of a similar tactic that had previously produced positive results a couple years prior.

Prior to the takeover, the “harambee” newspaper, an Afro-American publication, had printed a list of demands labeled, “What We Want and Why We Want It,” to bring the demands to the public forum.[8]  This list of demands, after being slightly edited, was physically handed to the administration’s “negotiators” through a window, as seen above. These demands provide a small window into the life of a black student prior to the occupation.[9] The list, pictured below, was used as a foundation for the Afro-Americans to start acquiring control over their education at Duke.[10] First and foremost, they wanted an established and fully accredited department of Afro-American studies. In October 1968, four months before the takeover, a “memo” was sent from M. Margaret Ball to Dean James L. Price regarding review of Duke’s offerings in the general field of African Studies. She wrote, “For once I should like to have us be a little ahead of the students in one of these matters.”[11] It is uncertain what exactly this mem-o-gram led to, however it is noteworthy that a faculty or administrative member was attempting to “get the ball rolling” in the discussions for a dedicated African American studies program. Four of the demands dealt with the admission and retention of black students, while one of the points touched on the ratio of black to white students in and outside of the institution.[12] The black students did not retain the feeling that they were being properly treated when being compared to their white counterparts. These students believed they deserved a slightly different form of leniency when it came to being a part of Duke because of a different upbringing.[13] Five of the demands touched upon the black students livelihood and success within the school walls.[14] Finally, the black students demanded a separate dorm, which they planned to use as a safe haven from the critical eyes of their peers. These list of demands show the intentions of the black students to gain more control of their lives at Duke as well as highlighting the school’s lack of action to meet them.

Black life on Duke’s campus still emanated a sense of disengagement in the community due to the ongoing inequality amongst the student population. The takeover and demands of the black community sought to correct this insufficient outlook. Shortly after the students occupied the Allen Building, the Divinity School at Duke published their response where they criticized the black students actions and demands. In the 1960’s, the Divinity School’s prominence on the campus was more apparent than today, which means their reaction to the issue held more weight and was nearly identical to the administration’s response.[16] The Divinity School claimed them to already be in active pursuit of fulfilling the demands and that the claims were unnecessary.[17] The school maintained that earlier in the week “a meaningful summer program for upgrading the preparation of Black students for Duke has been announced” and that President Knight supported Black Week.[18] The school also wrote that a firm commitment to an advisor for the Black students as well as a Black barber would be hired to the school shortly.[19] Without any evidence as the support claims, it is hard to decipher if the response letter is simply trying to make the minimal amount of effort into colossal achievements towards equality and black satisfaction. The response also claimed that the school listened to the students’ requests for library resources and personal areas, but not to the extent of a full sized dorm.[20] Clearly the black students were unpleased with these small appeasements the administration carelessly threw to them. Regarding the enrollment of black students, the university claimed recruitment trips had and would continue to be made specifically for black students, especially “in metropolitan areas.”[21] Whether all these claims are true, it comes across as though the school was trying to desperately respond to the list of demands that were not met over the last two and a half years of negotiations. The Divinity School’s response was Duke trying to cover their tracks, criticizing that they were meeting the negotiation demands as accused otherwise by the black students.

In addition to the Divinity School, an on campus organization and a plethora of letters sent to editors of the Durham Newspaper criticized the revolt. Duke’s “Young Americans for Freedom” listed a satirical step-by-step process on how to stage a revolt at a campus with phrases such as, “Make specific demands concerning a Sacred Topic. Include certain demands the Administration can’t possibly meet” and “Provoke violence…win sympathy from students and faculty.”[22] The newspaper messages focused on the destruction of privately owned property and the slight level of tolerance the administration showed towards the youth trampling over one of the country’s finest institutions. The letters believed the institution should be intolerant of such actions, no matter the incitement or consequence. The first published letter claimed the students should simply transfer if unhappy.[23] This action would defeat the whole purpose of students starting to stand up for themselves and taking control of their future. It is irrational to think transferring would adequately solve such problems. While the evidence of the school attempting to appease the black students was not in the research documents, the black community’s response to take over the Allen building must lead one to believe they did not think the school properly tended to their needs for equality.

To pull off the feat of successfully taking over the building and making a change, the black students amassed a support system of people who believed in same goal of taking ownership over their academic lives. The Radish, a newspaper at Duke, was rapidly published and handed out to all students that backed the “Malcolm X Liberation School’s” decision to occupy the building.[24] Inside the cover page, a story reported that nearly 2,000 students and faculty gathered in the quad to both investigate and support the liberation movement.[25] Students filled the quad and received the black students when they vacated the building and then began fighting alongside them against the police, called the “pigs.”[26] Immediately following the event, thousands of students boycotted classes for the next three days in support the black students being reprimanded for their actions.[27] They called for amnesty of those involved in the occupation and reinstatement of those suspended.[28] The line at the bottom, “the professor who lectures your today voted for police and gas on Thursday.”[29] The white students wanted power over their academic lives like the blacks, which meant putting their academic studies aside to come together as a whole in support of their end goals.

Nearly a month after the affairs, more events were put together to show support for the black students, such as a “Torchlight Parade” on the main quad, which all students were invited to. They supported the black students attempting to gain more control in the Black Studies Program because they felt them to be more qualified than the administration.[30] In an unnamed publication handed out to students, a subheading read, “Why the Blacks Need Student Power.” The unknown author posed a thought to the white students, saying, “Like white students, black students believe they are mature enough to make some of the decisions concerning their own lives, and student power is one way of doing this.”[31] These positive responses to the takeover help to verify the positive support’s presence among the black student’s white peers. Without such support, the black students might have waited numerous years because the takeover may have stagnated any inadequate negotiations that were occurring.

Twenty years after the takeover, The Chronicle ran an editorial looking back on the episode. One line says, “A look back at the list of student demands…shows how much is left to be done.” The all black dorm requested still did not exist twenty years later, but would be openly welcomed on campus as explained by the writer. Not only had the dorm request not been met, but the Office for Minority Affairs needed more direction and authority than it held.[33] These examples of how the administration still had not met the demands raised a full twenty years prior show that the student’s takeover actions were clearly justified. Ten years later, after the editorial was published, a commemorational event of the takeover occurred in the Allen Building. A faction of black students held a study-in, reliving the trials and tribulations of the students that came prior to them. The Chronicle’s Ana Sostek quoted senior Kameron Matthews recollecting her knowledge of the event, “I see it as the most pivotal event in the history of black students… It was the first time we stood up for something and people listened. It was their last resort.”[34] Allegedly, the school had not met all the issues raised during the original Allen Building Takeover of 1969, two decades later. These lack of actions prompted a revival of the occupation, thus demonstrating its lasting impact and support by the university’s students striving for control of their acedemics.

The actions taken by the group of roughly fifty black students at Duke University catalyzed the administration’s actions to accommodate the Afro-American population properly. By taking the Allen Building, the students tipped the University’s seemingly ambivalent scale in their favor, regardless of the punishments they received following the events. One of the most important and effective parts of the takeover was the riot that followed the vacancy of the black students from the Allen Building. The Divinity School’s claims about the university’s negotiation attempts clearly only existed to cover their abysmal display of effort in the discussions between the blacks and administration. The sheer fact that the Allen Building Takeover was commemorated thirty years later shows the impact of which the event had on the students who had only read about the occupation. Had the black students not taken action, it may have resulted in many more decades of black students struggling to adjust to the school’s lack of attention towards them. Future generations benefitted from the movement of the fifty students who had had enough and stood up for their rights and desires to control their education.

---

[1] Black Culture Week Flyer, February 4, 1969, Box 1, Folder 1, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01001001.jpg. (a)

[2] The Radish, Special Edition, February 14, 1969, Box 1, Folder 4, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01004005.jpg.(b)(f)

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Duke University Archives. “Allen Building Study-In, November 13, 1967.” flickr.com. http://bit.ly/1o2nGO8 (accessed September 16, 2014). (i)

[6] Duke University Archives. “Allen Building Study-In, November 13, 1967.” flickr.com. http://bit.ly/1o2nGO8 (accessed September 16, 2014). (i)

[7] Duke University Archives. “Allen Building Takeover, February 1969.” flickr.com. http://bit.ly/1sohCkg (accessed September 16, 2014). (i)

[8] Harambee, Afro-American Publication, February 5, 1969, Box 1, Folder 2, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01002020.jpg. (a)

[9] Duke University Archives. “Allen Building Takeover, February 1969.” flickr.com. http://bit.ly/1sohCkg (accessed September 16, 2014). (i)()

[10] The Black Demands, February 13, 1969, Box 1, Folder 3, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01003005.jpg. (a) (f)

[11] Duke University Archives. “African American Studies Curriculum, 1968” flickr.com. http://bit.ly/XhWKCq (accessed September 16, 2014). (i) (d) (c)

[12] The Black Demands, February 13, 1969, Box 1, Folder 3, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01003005.jpg. (i) (a) (f)

[13] Harambee, Afro-American Publication, February 5, 1969, Box 1, Folder 2, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01002020.jpg. (a)

[14] The Black Demands, February 13, 1969, Box 1, Folder 3, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01003005.jpg. (a) (f)

[15] Ibid

[16] The Divinity School Response, February 13, 1969, Box 1, Folder 3, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01003014.jpg. (e) (c) (g)

[17] Ibid.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Ibid.

[22] “Scenario for Campus Revolt,” February 13, 1969, Box 1, Folder 3, Allen Building Takeover Collection,1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01003016.jpg. (b) (e)

[23] Durham Newspaper, Letters to the Editor, March 13, 1969, Box 1, Folder 11, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01011034.jpg. (b) (e)

[24] The Radish, Special Edition, February 14, 1969, Box 1, Folder 4, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01004006.jpg. (a) (b) (f)

[25] The Radish, Special Edition, February 14, 1969, Box 1, Folder 4, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01004005.jpg. (b)

[26] Ibid.

[27] “On Strike!” February 14, 1969, Box 1, Folder 4, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01004016.jpg. (b) (f)

[28] Ibid.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Torchlight Parade Flyer, March 6, 1969, Box 1, Folder 7, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01007037.jpg. (a) (f)

[31] “The Blacks Have Left Duke Where Do You Stand,” “Why Black Students Need Power,” March 5, 1969, Box 1, Folder 7, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01007035.jpg. (f)

[32] Duke University Archives. “Allen Building Takeover, February 1969.” flickr.com. http://bit.ly/1y8zJSS (accessed September 16, 2014). (i)

[33] The Chronicle, After the Allen Building, February 12, 1969, Box 1, Folder 14, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01014007.jpg. (h) (i)

[34] The Chronicle, Reliving History, February 13, 1989, Box 1, Folder 13, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01013017.jpg. (h) (f)

[35] The Chronicle, After the Allen Building, February 12, 1969, Box 1, Folder 14, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Book Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/uaallenbldg/lrg/abtms01014007.jpg. (i)