A Matter of Civil Rights - WRI 111 - Voices from the Forest - Research Guides at Wake Forest University

Primary Sources - University Publications

Wake Forest Magazine (alumni magazine)
Call Number: LD5721.W512 W34
Accessible in digital format and in print. Wake Forest alumni news magazine. Current issues online at https://magazine.wfu.edu/

Highlight: Web Exclusive on "The 1960 Winston-Salem Sit-In" by Kerry M. King

The Howler (yearbook)
Call Number: LD5721 .W557 H6
Publication Date: 1903-2019
Link leads to digitized Howler yearbooks; also available in print in SCA.
The Student (literary magazine)
Call Number: LH1.W4 S78
Publication Date: 1895-current
Link leads to the digitized Student literary magazine; also available in print in SCA. Earlier title Wake Forest Student and later title Three to Four Ounces.

Highlight: "An Interview with Gil McGregor and Charlie Davis" (1969-1970)

Old Gold and Black (newspaper)
Call Number: LH1.W4 O64
Publication Date: 1916-2018
Link leads to digitized student newspaper; also available in print in SCA. Current issues online at https://wfuogb.com/

OGB Highlights (keyword search OGB for many more results):

“Martin Luther King Ought to be Heard” (Feb 17, 1960)
“College Rejects Application” (Feb 29, 1960)
"Majority Favor WF Segregation" (April 4, 1960)
“TRUSTEES ORDER DESEGREGATION” (April 30, 1962)
“Welcome, Ed and Patricia” (Sept 24, 1962)
“Tate Offers Scholarship to Negroes” (Feb 17, 1964)
"Impressions Given By 1st Negro Coed" by Pat Smith (May 18, 1964, page 4)
“Negroes Tell Liberals to Fight White Racism” (May 13, 1968)
"Students Protest Against Racism" (Nov 1968)

Winston-Salem Journal (newspaper)
Call Number: microfilm ZnoW73
Publication Date: 1897-current
Archived issues of the local Winston-Salem newspaper on microfilm. Microfilm reels and readers located in the library on Wilson 1.

Other items digitized in the University Publications Collection include student handbooks (1906-2011) and more.

Primary Sources - Oral Histories

Faces of Courage - Multimedia
Includes curated interviews and videos. The Faces of Courage celebration happened during the 2012-2013 academic year, commemorating the 50th anniversary of integration at Wake Forest.
History of WFU Oral Histories
The History of Wake Forest University Oral Histories collection (2013-ongoing) consists of audio and video interviews. Topics include the alumni and student experience, campus social life and community, and the academic life of faculty and staff. Special thematic focus on WFU Global Programs and Services, the LGBTQ community, and women scientists at Wake Forest.

Oral History Highlights:

Camille Russell Love oral history

Oral history interview with Camille Russell Love, one of the first African American women to integrate Wake Forest University. Audio and transcript.
Herman Eure oral history

Dr. Herman Eure joined the WFU Biology department in 1971 as the university's first full-time African-American faculty member. He describes his career at WFU and his undergrad involvement with the civil rights movement. Audio and transcript.
Ross Griffith oral history

Griffith received his B.A. from WFU in 1965 and held a variety of administrative position at the university. His interview includes discussion of his undergraduate experience of academics, social activities, and the impact of the football team on integration. Audio only; no transcript.
Bill Stevens oral history

On Feb. 23, 1960, a group of students from Winston-Salem State University were joined by students from Wake Forest University to protest segregated lunch counters in Winston-Salem. This audio recording features an interview with William "Bill" Stevens on November 17, 1999. He talks about his involvement with the sit-in as a student of Wake Forest University. Audio only; no transcript.
Muriel Beth Norbrey Hopkins oral history

Beth Norbrey Hopkins graduated from WFU in 1973 and was the school's first Black homecoming queen. She became a lawyer and later held various positions in the WFU administration, History department, and School of Law. Interview includes description of her arrival at WFU and her core group of African-American friends who supported each other during their undergraduate years. Audio and transcript.

Primary Sources - University Records

Lunch-counter desegregation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina by Patrick, Clarence H.
Call Number: E185.93.N6 P377 1960
Publication Date: 1960
Link leads to digitized pamphlet; also available in print. A 24 page survey of perspectives surrounding the Winston-Salem lunch counter desegregation protests in 1960. Written by Clarence H. Patrick, Chairman of the Department of Sociology at WFC.
I'm not my brother's keeper: Leadership and civil rights in Winston-Salem, NC by Dalton, Mary M. and Susan Faust
Call Number: E185.93 N6 I26 2001
Publication Date: 2001
Videodisc. One week after the Greensboro sit-in, protestors guided by Carl W. Matthews began taking seats at the lunch counter of S.H. Kress department store in Winston-Salem, starting a three-month-long action that ended in the successful desegration of lunch counters in the city. Interviews with many of the students involved, with their professors and mentors, archival photographs, and music of the era provide a sense of what the movement meant to them students and how it shaped their lives.
Irving E. Carlyle Papers
Call Number: MS175
Irving Carlyle was a WFU alum (1917) and lawyer who was active in NC politics. He served on the WFU Board of Trustees 1946-1962, including five terms as Chair. His papers include materials on WFU's relationship with the Baptist State Convention and on integration issues in NC schools. Collection has not been digitized; link leads to finding aid for the print collection.
President's Office, Harold Wayland Tribble
Call Number: RG1.10
This collection has not been digitized; link leads to finding aid for the print collection. Harold Tribble was president of Wake Forest from 1950 to 1967. Materials on segregation and integration (Box 8, Folders 475-476).
Student Organizations. Afro-American Society Records
Call Number: RG8.21
WFU's Afro-American Society was founded by Howard Stanback and Freeman Mark in 1969; the Afro-American Society later became the Black Student Alliance. The collection contains materials related to Nikki Giovanni's appearance at Black Awareness Week in 1978.
Errol Kemp Reece, Jr., Research Papers
Call Number: MS373
Publication Date: 1981
Link leads to finding aid; collection not digitized. Errol Kemp Reece, Jr., was a student at Wake Forest University. This collection includes his paper entitled "The History of Integration at Wake Forest University," 1981; copies of documents and research materials; interviews with campus figures.
To Stand With and For Humanity: Essays from the Wake Forest University Slavery, Race, and Memory Project
Link leads to digital publication. This publication features a collection of essays that examine the institution of slavery and its ties to Wake Forest University.

Highlight: Includes "An Apology" by Nathan O. Hatch, President of Wake Forest University

University Archives Photograph Collection
Call Number: RG10.1
Link leads to digitized collection (not all photos have been digitized). The finding aid for the entire collection is available here: https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/39540
University Archives Vertical Files
Call Number: RG15
Link leads to the finding aid that can be keyword searched; collection has not been digitized. Vertical files consist of newspaper clippings, published and unpublished documents, and other materials about specific subjects related to WFU history.

Highlights: Afro-American Society docs (Box 148), Black alumni and organizations materials (Box 33), Lunch Counter Demonstration materials (Box 114), student protest materials (Box 149)
Student Clubs Records
Call Number: RG8.56
Link leads to finding aid; collection has not been digitized. WFU has 243 student clubs and organizations as of 2018, managed by the Office of Student Engagement and the Student Organizations Board. The clubs and organizations range from sports-based, to religious, political, and cultural, to interest and ideology focused, as well as sororities and fraternities. Materials in this collection include promotional materials, such as stickers, fliers, and cards with meeting information.
Audio Recordings. Martin Luther King, Jr. Address in Wait Chapel Recording
Call Number: RG11.4.1
Link leads to finding aid; collection cannot be digitized. This collection consists of an audio recording and transcript of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech given in Wait Chapel on October 11, 1962, as part of the College Union Lecture Series.

Highlights

Secondary Sources

WFU Timeline
Timeline of events in WFU history from its beginnings in 1834 to the present.
History of Wake Forest College, Volume IV, 1943-1967
Also available in print: LD5721 W52 P3 1935 vol. 4
History of Wake Forest University, Volume V, 1967-1983
Also available in print: LD5721.W52 P3 2010 vol. 5
The History of Wake Forest University, Volume VI, 1983-2005
Also available in print: LD5721.W52 P3 2010 vol. 6

Student papers:

"History of Integration at Wake Forest University, 1981" by Errol Kemp Reece (see University Records)

Related Subject Guides

Histories of Wake Forest Resources Relating to Human Civil Rights

Insensitive and Discriminatory Content in Wake Forest’s Howler Yearbooks and Other Records - Sensitive content warning.

WFU Activism - Organized by time period.

ZSR Library

WRI 111 - Voices from the Forest: A Matter of Civil Rights