The Struggle for Civil Rights in North Carolina 1964
Demonstrator with Protest Sign
Staff Person: Jonathan Dembo
Description:
This 1964 photograph is from the Capus Miller Waynick Papers (P-421/1346) and is one of several in the collection showing anti-civil rights demonstrators in High Point, North Carolina. It was taken at the height of the conflict over civil rights and during the movement to pass national and state civil rights legislation. It clearly shows the strength and the intensity of the opposition to these reforms. Nearing the end of a long career as a reporter and editor, state representative and state senator, administrator of governmental and private agencies, and diplomat, Mr. Waynick was by the 1960s one of the most familiar and respected Democratic figures in the state; he might have been excused from entering the fray. A notable advocate for arbitration and peaceful settlement of grievances, Waynick enthusiastically accepted the challenging role of race relations “trouble-shooter” for North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford in 1963. As Sanford’s representative, he travelled throughout the state to places where the threat of violence was very real and spoke in favor of civil rights and racial reconciliation. The Waynick Collection contains materials reflecting many phases of his life and career, but none that does him more honor than his work for social peace in the tumultuous 1960s.
You may learn more about Waynick and his life by accessing the finding aid to the Capus M. Waynick Papers at: http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0421/
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