Shirley Pendergraph Davis - On the African American freedom struggle and Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill (Interview Two)
Interviewed by John Kenyon "Yonni" Chapman on April 23, 1996
“Well I would say that [Black women] stood by the men and we also stood up for our rights. We knew a change had to come.”
- Shirley Pendergraph Davis
Civil rights activist, Shirley Pendergraph Davis, comments on the role of Black women in the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s. Ms. Davis reflects on her own involvement in organizing, and participating in, local sit-ins and protests in the Chapel Hill area as a young Black woman and mother. As a graduate of Lincoln High School, Davis speaks on the leadership of her peers in organizing youth meetings at St. Joseph’s Church to discuss upcoming protests. Additionally, Ms. Davis notes specific instances in which Black women in the community were directly involved in sit-ins, or provided support for the men and women who protested during this time.
Audio recordings of interviews conducted by Yonni Chapman with participants in the African American freedom struggle and the civil rights movement in and around Chapel Hill, N.C.
