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Tours

1. A Tour of UNC Women's History

   This walking tour explores the women's history of the university through the spaces in which it took place.

   Stops

   1. Introduction

      Based on the Wilson Library exhibit, Climbing the Hill: Women in the History of UNC , this walking tour explores the women’s history of the university through the spaces in which it took place. Whether taking the tour in person or navigating through the digital map, you will find an introduction to women’s experiences on campus as they were shaped by race, class, age, and sexuality. Users are encouraged to scroll through the photo and document galleries, to follow the links within to learn more, and to explore UNC’s history for themselves in the UNC Special Collections.

      This tour was written and produced by:

      • The undergraduate students in HIST 179H (Spring 2020), and their instructor, Dr. Katherine Turk.
      • Dr. Gabriel Moss, Emma Rothberg, and the UNC Digital History Lab
      • Sarah Carrier, Rachel Reynolds, Lara Lookabaugh, and the Wilson Special Collections Library

      Graphics:

      • Alison Duncan and Aleah Howell.

   2. Sonja Haynes Stone

      The Stone Center for Black Culture and History honors Dr. Sonja Haynes Stone (1938-1991) a beloved professor and prominent activist at UNC-Chapel Hill. Despite her outstanding qualifications, Stone was initially denied tenure in 1979; she gained it in 1980 only after student protests . During her time at the University, students and faculty joined Stone in a long struggle to have a freestanding black cultural center on campus, described in the pamphlet abive; the center finally opened in 1988, and was renamed in Stone’s honor after her passing in 1991.

      Learn more about student activism and the founding of the Stone Center in Reclaiming the University of the People , a digital Ph.D. dissertation by Dr. Charlotte Fryar.

      See exhibit page .

   3. Fear Map of Campus

      This hand-colored map displays the results of UNC student Karen Falconer’s 1989 graduate thesis, which identified the locations on campus women felt were most dangerous. Students at UNC-Chapel Hill continue to play active roles in the worldwide Take Back the Night protests against sexual, relationship, and domestic violence. Yet as the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground (trailer ) and the recent Catcalling Map of Chapel Hill makes clear, sexual assault and harassment remain ongoing concerns on campus.

      See exhibit page .

   4. Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association

      Though founded in 1974, the Carolina Gay Association did not add the word “Lesbian” to its name until 1985.  As shown in this issue of the newsletter Lambda , the name-change marked the increased awareness of female sexuality in the 1980s. The CGLA was instrumental in integrating LGBTQ+ studies into the UNC curriculum , culminating in the founding of the Sexuality Studies Program in 2004. Today, SASB South houses the UNC LGBTQ Center , founded in 2003.

      For more information, see the Carolina Gay Association Records held at Wilson Library or digitized copies of Lambda, as well as Southern Oral History Program interviews with Carolina LGBTQ+ pioneers and advocates such as Dr. Cecil Wooten and Dr. Terri Phoenix .

      See exhibit page .

   5. Food Service Workers' Strike

      Led by Elizabeth Brooks , Mary Smith , and other women of color, UNC food workers launched a strike against unfair labor practices on February 23, 1969, walking off their workstations in Lenoir Hall. Students (particularly members of the Black Student Movement) and an increasing number of community members expressed their support, while Governor Dan K. Moore stationed the Highway Patrol on campus, and put the National Guard on standby in fear of violence. Although an agreement was reached in late March, the privatization of food service on campus and the dismissal of the workers’ demands led to a second strike that lasted until December 9, 1969.

      See exhibit page .

   6. Student Union Lactation Room

      In August 2007, the Carolina Women’s Center successfully campaigned for the opening of a lactation room in the UNC Student Union. The room was specifically opened for University-affiliated mothers in need of a non-office space for nursing and pumping. While the Union “mother room” was the third to open on campus, it was the first to be centrally-located and accessible to student parents.

      See exhibit page .

   7. Carolina Dances

      Located on the current site of Fetzer Hall, the Tin Can served as an event space and gymnasium until its demolition in 1977.In addition to hosting a variety of women’s club and intramural sports , it was a frequent venue for Carolina dances, a school tradition since the 1800s. Before UNC admitted its first female students in 1897, most women at school balls came from the neighboring towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and male students used dance cards (such as the one shown above) to record the names of their dance partners.

      Rules for women and men at school dances differed well into the 20th century--in the 1930’s, a pamphlet entitled “So You’re Coming to a Carolina Dance” outlined expectations of decorum for female attendees. Women were often expected to serve the role of date, rather than attend dances solely for their own enjoyment.

      See exhibit page .

   8. Pride Place and Gender-Neutral Housing

      Cobb Residence Hall is the home of Pride Place , UNC’s first LGBTQ+ Residential Learning Community. Founded in 2016 , Pride Place was in part a response to the university’s denial of gender-neutral housing options three years earlier. While the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees unanimously approved gender-neutral housing in 2013, the state Board of Governors overturned the program before it began, and four UNC students who had planned to live in gender-neutral spaces were instead placed in alternative housing. The campaign for gender-neutral housing and the University’s subsequent pushback demonstrates that cisgender women are not the only group that has struggled to overcome barriers put in place by the administration.

      For more on the gender-neutral housing decision, see articles from WUNC , Equality NC , and the Daily Tar Heel .

      See exhibit page .

   9. Pauli Murray

      In July 2020, the UNC Departments of History, Political Science, and Sociology unofficially renamed Hamilton Hall in honor of Pauli Murray . Murray was denied entry to UNC twice--first in 1938 because of North Carolina segregation laws, and again in 1951, despite a ruling saying that Black students could attend professional and graduate schools in the UNC system (see her correspondence with the Dean of the Law School, above). Pauli Murray would go on to earn law degrees from UC-Berkeley and Yale, working as a lawyer and activist with the NAACP before becoming the first black woman ordained by the Episcopal Church.

      See exhibit page .

   10. The Struggle for Hurston Hall

       Carolina is neither the original, nor, for many, the preferred named for this building. The building was originally named after William Saunders - an alumnus, colonel in the Confederate Army, and leader in the NC Ku Klux Klan.

       In protests and activism stretching over a decade, students and faculty proposed the hall be renamed after world renowned Black anthropologist, author, and filmmaker Zora Neale Hurston. The zine “Ruptures” (pictured above) was published as part of this movement by FLOCK , a collective of geography students and faculty.

       The Board of Trustees denied this proposal and instead renamed the building Carolina Hall and passed a moratorium forbidding any further name changes for 15 years. On June 17, 2020, in the wake of national protests against racial injustice and the murder of George Floyd, the Board of Trustees voted to end the moratorium .

       See exhibit page .

   11. The Female Liberation Movement

       As the hub of university administration, South Building has long been a site of protests and deliberation over a more just and inclusive Carolina. In early 1970, it was at the center of the Female Liberation Movement on campus. That March, Female Liberation #27 (a feminist student group based at UNC) delivered a list of demands (shown above) to the university administration at South Building in an effort to improve the status and treatment of women affiliated with the University.

       The next month, activists sponsored a “baby-in” --an event at which 75 students, professors, and professors’ wives with babies gathered at South Building to demand a child daycare center. The administration claimed they did not have the funds--to date, while UNC subsidizes several child-care options , it does not offer an on-campus daycare for student and employee parents.

   12. University Woman's Club

       The University Woman’s Club (UWC), established in 1949 for UNC faculty wives and the few female faculty members, regularly held luncheons at the Carolina Inn. Handmade programs, such as the one above, outlined the menu and scheduled events for the gathering. While the UWC was intended to provide a sense of community for women in the Carolina community, strict membership requirements presented a barrier to inclusivity and diversity.

       For more information, see the UWC’s own history , or its papers held at UNC’s Wilson Library.

       See exhibit page .

   13. Women’s Studies at UNC

       Home of the UNC Women’s and Gender Studies Department , the Smith Building is one of 8 buildings on campus named solely for a woman. The department traces its origins in part to the Women’s Studies Committee of the 1970s. However, as seen in the 1974 letter by Senior Jamie Ellis, above, early committee members felt that a separate department of Women’s Studies was unnecessary, instead favoring an interdisciplinary approach spread across multiple departments.

       See exhibit page .

   14. Housekeepers Association

       Pictured above on the steps of South Building, Marsha Tinnen and Barbara Prear formed the UNC Housekeepers Association in the spring of 1991 to advocate for better pay, benefits and working conditions. Mobilizing their fellow housekeepers and allies across the UNC community in rallies and marches , they ultimately spearheaded a lawsuit against UNC for racial discrimination, a case which made it to the Supreme Court by 1995.

       In Hill Hall in November 1996, 300 housekeepers voted to accept a settlement from the university. The union victory inspired other people of color working for the Town of Chapel Hill in their own fight for better conditions. Today, the Employee Forum exists at UNC-Chapel Hill as a direct consequence of the HKA’s work.

       For more, see Daily Tar Heel and WUNC articles reflecting on the 20th anniversary of this victory. UE Local 150, the NC Public Service Workers Union, has a written history of the protest.

   15. Spencer Hall and Women's Housing

       Spencer Hall, constructed in 1924, was the first dormitory for women at UNC. The letter above, signed in 1923 by alumnae of UNC-Chapel Hill, formally requested the construction of a Women’s Building on campus as there were limited areas for women in student housing.

       To learn more about the experience of living in Spencer Residence Hall, listen to this oral history with Sharon Rose Powell, who lived in Spencer during her freshman year in the 1960s. There is also a public history project with more information about the building.

       See exhibit page .

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       Like many public figures of the Reconstruction era, Cornelia Philips Spencer (1825-1908), the namesake for both Spencer Hall and the highest award UNC could give a female student, is a controversial figure at Carolina today. In 2004, graduate student John Kenyon Chapman led a campaign to disband the Cornelia Philips Spencer Bell Award due to Spencer’s blatant sexism and racism. The email exchange above, between Chapman and Spencie Love (Spencer’s great-granddaughter) reveals these tensions between legacy and the future of gender and race relations on campus.

       Learn more about Spencer through the eyes of her granddaughter in this oral history conducted in 1975.

       See exhibit page .