The Labor Movement in the U.S. South: Labor Activism at UNC Chapel Hill
Overview
Since the early 20th century, UNC students have been active in supporting the rights of workers, both on campus and beyond, nationally and internationally. UNC Chapel Hill students have organized in solidarity with janitors (1930s), dining hall workers (1969), and housekeepers (1990s) on the university's campus; and for UNC to divest from sweatshop labor (1990s).
Several past projects developed by the staff of the UNC Chapel Hill Library explore important chapters in the history of labor organizing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We link to them below:
Research Guide: Student Protest Movements at UNC Chapel Hill
- Labor Activism section of Research Guide on UNC Chapel Hill Student Protest Movements.
Developed by Sarah Carrier, North Carolina Research and Instruction Librarian.
Exhibit: "Foodworkers Strike"
- "Foodworkers Strike"Section from "I Raised My Hand to Volunteer" UNC Chapel Hill Library Exhibition
Co-curated by librarians Tim West, Biff Hollingsworth, Janis Holder, and Susan Ballinger.
Exhibit: "Women and the Struggle for Labor Justice"
- "Women and the Struggle for Labor Justice"Section from "Climbing the Hill," UNC Chapel Hill Library Exhibition
This exhibition is an outcome of the Spring 2020 HIST 179H: Women in the History of UNC-Chapel Hill class, led by Dr. Katherine Turk in the Department of History at UNC-Chapel Hill. It came together under the direction of North Carolina Research and Instruction Librarian, Sarah Carrier, and Special Collections Exhibits Coordinator, Rachel Reynolds, with the assistance of Humanities for the Public Good Graduate Fellow, Lara Lookabaugh.
Photograph
"Foodworkers Strike leader Mary Smith speaking at Memorial Hall in 1969. Photograph from the 1970 Yackety Yack.
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