The last weekend in May will be a special one. NBS alumni are invited to the 40th Anniversary Celebration at UNCG Friday through Sunday, May 29-31.
Among the many events will be receptions, performances by current student NBS groups and a gala featuring the NBS Alumni Choir.
For details about the reunion and how to register, visit studentaffairs.uncg.edu/nbs40.
At that site, you'll also see organizers and archivists are collecting stories, photos and insights from NBS alumni. Click the link — and be a part of history.
For the first five years, the Neo-Black Society had only African-American members. In 1973, half of UNCG's nearly 300 black students were in NBS.
That year, a white student contended that the society's student government-allocated funding should be cut off, alleging that the society was discriminatory. A vote was taken, and the funding was ended. Controversy reigned for days. Beginning the morning after the vote, as many as 500 black and white students staged a sit-in in Foust Building, led by NBS president Leon Chestnut. A bi-racial faculty advisory committee appointed to review the facts surrounding the vote overturned the ruling and funding was restored. In announcing the advisory committee's finding, Chancellor James Ferguson said that the university “reaffirms its commitment to a policy of nondiscrimination with respect to race, color, sex, religion and national origin.”
The society modified its constitution in May to be more inclusive. By June of that year two white students were members. The society has included members of other ethnic groups ever since.
All the contestants at the first UNCG Homecoming Queen contest, in 1982, were white. Displeased with the lack of representation, some African-American students wrote a letter of petition. The following year, the NBS put forward a contestant — Cynthia Moore Johnson '87.
Cynthia Moore Johnson '87 became the university's first black Homecoming Queen.
Enlarge“And Miss Homecoming is …” She heard her name called.
The reaction from the crowd? “Honestly, it was disbelief,” she remembers. “An African American? A freshman? A little black girl from North Carolina?”
It wasn't disbelief in a bad way, she says, simply shock. “It hadn't happened before.”
Only about 10 percent of the student body was African American, she notes.
A few of the other contestants gave her the snub — she says that was just girls being girls. Most were nice.
All the NBS students had come together with a simple vision to achieve this, she recalls. Some were jumping up and down, when they heard her name. “There was a feeling of ‘We did it, we got this lady elected.’
“It happened to be me.”
In the last decades, society has changed — and so has the university. Today, 22 percent of UNCG undergraduates and 15 percent of graduate students are African American. These numbers are the highest among the UNC system's historically white universities. About 30 percent of entering freshmen last fall were minorities, and the percentage of tenure track minority faculty members has more than doubled in the last 10 years. At last fall's Faculty Convocation, Provost David H. Perrin's first topic was diversity and inclusiveness. Among the most recent initiatives to create a more inclusive campus environment and more support for minority populations:
- Inclusive Community Task Force Begun last fall to foster greater diversity. It seeks to ensure all members of the campus community feel empowered, valued and respected for their contributions to the overall mission of UNCG.
- Deans Council Sub-committee on Recruitment and Retention of Ethnic Minority Faculty Committee appointed by provost to provide recommendations to assist university in recruiting and retaining minority faculty.
- Coordinator of Diversity Initiatives for the College of Arts & Sciences Newly created position; coordinator works with departments on strategies to increase diversity in faculty searches and with an advisory group to propose initiatives to increase diversity within the College.
- Rites of Passage Program Created to help African-American male students succeed academically by enhancing their life management skills.
- Mentoring program for minority and first-generation students. Provides opportunities for students to build relationships with faculty and staff outside of the classroom. Its pilot phase is being evaluated this spring. The provost was the first to volunteer to be a mentor.
I was greatly impacted in terms of my involvement in campus life and enhancing my leadership skills. It also helped me be connected and a part of something greater than myself that hopefully left a legacy for students that followed.
— Onique Williams '00, NBS president 1999-2000
NBS was the safe haven on campus. It provided a place to meet and a means to allow discussion on things that had somehow negatively impacted you during the course of the day. NBS allowed us to show the administration that black kids were knowledgeable about the workings of the university process and wanted our presence to have a positive effect.
— George Warren, '73
It taught me how to be strong, knowledgeable and hard working …
— Renee Robinson '07, NBS president 2006-07
Being a part of NBS taught me that it is not alright to observe and/or know that something is wrong, or that someone has been “wronged,” and remain silent about it.
— Sam Miller, '75, NBS president 1974-75
[It has] given me the leadership skills and self-confidence to tackle tasks beyond UNCG. It also provided me a common connection to other UNCG students and alums.
— John O'Neal '93
Being a member has always given me (and still does) a sense of pride, direction and focus.
— Robert Randolph Jr.'02, '03
Being among African-American students in a school that consisted of 90 percent Caucasian students — It was my family away from home (the love and friendships were priceless)
— Angela Taylor-Murphy '86, NBS president 1984-85
A look back at remarkable moments in NBS history
1967 — Some African-American students begin planning for a new organization.
1968 — Neo-Black Society is formed.
1971 — Neo-Black Society Lounge becomes a reality in Elliott University Center. It offers a haven for black students — a place for meetings, rehearsals and storage.
1973 — Funding controversy leads to change to NBS constitution. NBS has first non-black members.
1977 — Martin Luther King Sr., the noted pastor and father of the slain civil rights leader, speaks on campus.
1978 — The first African-American president of the Student Government Association is elected.
1979 — The Office of Minority Affairs is established.
1980 — Campus celebrates MLK Jr.'s birthday for the first time.
1980 — Informal “rap sessions” among black students and black faculty are held.
1982 — Petition circulated against first Homecoming Queen Pageant, which had no African-American contestants.
1982 — The Black Studies Program is established.
1982 — Sickle Cell Dancethon is held.
1983 — The first African-American homecoming queen, Cynthia Moore Johnson '87, is elected.
1986 — MLK Service Award first presented by UNCG.
1987 — NBS Choir's first album released on cassette.
1988 — Black Alumni Council writes to Chancellor Moran to voice concern about what they consider too few black faculty and staff.
2002 — African American Studies is approved as a major.
2004 — Room 122 of renovated Elliott University Center is named by trustees the “Neo-Black Society Legacy Room.”
2008 — NBS marks its 40th year.