Created by Kathleen Padilla
Description: During the year of 1963, Elizabeth City State Teachers College with the help of six students discuss to have a march. There would be 450 students in the march and 220 students will go to court because of the march. Five students would go to jail and have to pay a bond which was unfair because these students were fighting for their civil rights. In August 1963 members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee helped to organize the March for Freedom. Golden Franks, an Edenton man was working with SCLC.[i]
The March for Freedom was to raise awareness and also stimulate dialogue in the community. Five local students from Elizabeth City State Teachers College began to organize a march with the help of SCLC and SNCC members. The August 1963 march was “sharp, subtle, not hostile but defined,” says Robert Vaughn, retired Elizabeth City State University athletic director.[ii]
Six students of Elizabeth City State Teachers College discuss plans for a march to protest for their civil rights. The march begins at Moore Hall on the Elizabeth City State Teachers College, down Southern Avenue to City Hall on Colonial Avenue. This was the exact route that was used to show respect to Martin Luther King Jr. each January in Elizabeth City.[iii]
Five students of Elizabeth City State Teachers College would go to jail or pay a bond because the judge thought that these five students were the leaders of the march. Others were in the march; however, of the 450 students only 220 students would go to court. Judge Honer read the cases of State vs. Clayburn because the cases were nearly the same as the case of the students.[iv] This was unfair to the five students that went to jail and paid a fine because the judge thought that they were the leaders of the march. The judge said that the other students would not have participated in the march if the five students that were supposed to be the leaders would not have influenced them.
SNCC was trying to organize marches on all black campuses throughout the South. Thurlis Little was a student at Elizabeth City State Teachers College who was involved in the march and he was questioned by police with other students. There was only a mention of the march in The Daily Advance archives and the article title was “Three College Students Found Guilty Here In Trespass Case.” This story was published Nov. 14, 1963 it did not mention the protest.[v] Students were being questioned during this time about the march; however, this protest was not written about in the article.
[i] Robert Kelly-Gross. “March for Freedom,” Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, North Carolina), August 2008.
[ii] Robert Kelly-Gross. “March for Freedom,” Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, North Carolina), August 2008.
[iii] Robert Kelly-Gross. “March for Freedom,” Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, North Carolina), August 2008.
[iv] James L. Terrell. “Results of the Trail,” (Elizabeth City, North Carolina), October 20-21, 1963.
[v] Robert Kelly-Gross. “March for Freedom,” Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, North Carolina), August 2008.
Suggested Readings:
University Archives, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC
Norris Francis-4248 folder
Willie Francis-folder
Willie Francis-7083 folder
Directory Division Wing Publications, INC. 1967 Elizabeth City North Carolina City Directory.
(South Carolina), 1965.
Kelly-Gross, Robert. “March for Freedom,” Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, North Carolina),
August 2008.
Jordon, John W. “The Pirate 1963,” Yearbook. Elizabeth City State Teachers College (Elizabeth
City, North Carolina), 1963.
Pearce, Louise. “The Viking 1964,” Yearbook. Elizabeth City State College (Elizabeth City,
North Carolina), 1964.
Terrell, James L. “Results of the Trail,” (Elizabeth City, North Carolina), October 20-21, 1963.
Williams, Jethro. “The Viking 1965,” Yearbook. Elizabeth City State College (Elizabeth City,
North Carolina), 1965.