The following text was written in 1993 and is part of an in-depth history of the Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center which was compiled
by a group which consisted of members from the Student Environmental Action Coalition (S.E.A.C), the Black Awareness
Council, the Sonja Haynes Stone Advisory Board, the Black Student Movement, the Black Greek Council, the Collegiate
Black Caucus, B-Glad, the Sonja Haynes Stone Task Force and the Campus Y. This text has been included not only because
it gives a detailed history of the Center's conception, but also because it serves as a means of documenting just how much
work and thought and commitment have gone into the creation of the Center. Small changes have been made to update the text, but most of it appears as it was originally written.The current Center is located in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can find out more about the current Center, as well as the proposed free-standing Center, by accessing the BCC's homepage. We encourage you to visit the site to find out more about the Center's programs and history.
Documentation on the Black Cultural Center, as it now stands, dates back to February of 1984 when Vice Chancellor Donald Boulton invited Black faculty, staff and students to explore the idea of creating a Black Cultural Center at UNC and asked them to become a part of a committee to work towards that end. In a memorandum dated February 22, 1984, Dr. Audrey Johnson of the Black Faculty/Staff Caucus responded to Vice Chancellor Boulton per a meeting of the Caucus. It was recommended that the Black Cultural Center idea be more fully developed and representatatives from various campus organizations and departments were referred to as potential members of a committee that could discuss the issue.
On Thursday, April 19, 1984, the Black Cultural Center Planning Committee had its first meeting and received a charge for Vice Chancellor Boulton to develop a mission statement, draft a job description for the Director and suggest an organizational structure for the operation of an advisory board. This committee was chaired by Associate Vice Chancellor Edith Wiggens.
During its fledging months, the BCC Planning Committee reviewed information about black cultural centers at schools such as Purdue, North Carolina State, UNC-G, University of Indiana, University of Massachusetts and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Further, the committee submitted, reviewed and revised numerous copies of the proposal justifying the Center to be passed on to the Vice Chancellor of student affairs, Donald Boulton. At the May 31, 1984 Planning Committee meeting, it was decided that the model to be used for the growth of UNC's Black Cultural Center should be that of Purdue university. "It was suggested that the staff, budget and site all be included in the planning process for the Center, and that a survey of Black students be made in the fall to determine what they desire in a cultural center."
At the Planning Committee meeting on June 7, 1984, Dr. Trudier Harris "expressed that she felt the Center must have adequate space and not be relegated to a corner of an existing building. She further stated that she felt that the plans for the Center should not be instituted until adequate space was assured." Work continued on the justification and the proposal until July 15, 1985, when the first completed draft for a proposal for a Black Cultural Center was submitted to Vice Chancellor Donald Boulton by Kenneth M. Smith.
On September 27, 1985, at the next Planning Committee meeting, Dean Wiggens suggested that the proposal submitted by Smith in July be revised. The next meeting of the Planning Committee was held on October 4, 1985, and the topic of discussion was space. It was mentioned at that meeting that the snack bar in the Student Union was reserved for the Black Cultural Center but not assigned. Dr. Sonja Stone suggested that an ad hoc committee be formed to review the space issue and work with the physical space needed and to "explore space possibilities on campus."
The Space Committee reported their findings at the December 5, 1985 meeting, at which Bob Brooks, University architect, was present. "Brooks apologized for and explained the delay in getting the report ready for the Committee. Brooks explained that he took program descriptions and developed space requirements to meet the program needs of the Center. His report was verbal, but he promised a written report in a few days (written report was received a few days later and is attatched.) Space committee will have Brooks report incorporated into a proposal."
At the next BCC Planning Committee meeting on January 24, 1986, Camille Roddy reported on the ad hoc committee that worked with Brooks. The minutes from that meeting read "Roddy submitted a draft copy of Projected Space Needs. The committee reviewed, corrected and incorporated in the proposal as item VI."
Several recent statements have been made by several members of the University administration that there was never actually a proposal for a free-standing building. This argument is refuted by the above mentioned projection. In the introduction to the proposal, there is an explanation of how the document came about, and there exists in this document one very important statement: "The figures given below are for a new building." (emphasis mine) There is an asterix beside the total cost for the project that leads the reader to find that this total cost does not include "...the cost of land purchases, equipment or furnishings." Why would the University architect draft such a document if it were not the intention of this committee to house the Black Cultural Center in a new building- a free-standing facility?
The revision of the July, 1985, proposal was resubmitted to Vice Chancellor Boulton on February 3, 1986, in the form of a 24-page document. This proposal included the following: Historical background, Vice-Chancellor Boulton's Charge, Introduction, Body (which included justification in the areas of Cultural Expression, Recruitment, Afro-American Studies Reading Collection, building relations with the surrounding community, African and Afro-American displays, distinguished Alumni, Academic Advisory program and artist-in-residence program), Administration, Space, Prognosis and appendix. The proposal was very comprehensive and addressed all of the concerns that had been raised about the Center.
In a memorandum to the Black Cultural Center Planning Committee dated April 22, 1986, Vice Chancellor Donald Boulton gives an "Interim Report on the Black Cultural Center Proposal." In this memo, Vice Chancellor Boulton explains why he was not able to respond to the proposal in the 4-6 week time period that he had promised. He stated "I had hoped to be able to give you a completed response within 4-6 weeks, but due to the schedule of others and their busy timetables, I have been unable to meet until now." Further, in this memo he quoted a memorandum that he had written to Dean Gillian Cell, who was then the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He expressed to Dean Cell his concern that based on the proposal submitted by the planning committee that the needs of the Cultural Center could not be addressed by Student Affairs because they were cultural in nature."...it would appear that the Black Cultural Center needs to be aligned and/or related to an academic unit, as well as to Student Affairs, hopefully pursuing activities that have an educational direction to them." He charged Dean Cell to appoint a representative from her office to the Planning Committee and that this group should work on establishing "broad education and academic goals to provide a framework for the development of specific programs and events, as well as to identify arts and humanities disciplines which may logically be accomodated with any framework. Further, this Planning Committee could develop a statement which speaks to quality control, artistic integrity, program formats which may be appropriate to the Cultural Center, and whatever resources, both space and money, that are required in an educational setting for obtaining these goals."
Boulton went on to mention to other people that he had shared the proposal with, including the University Librarian and the Chairman of the Department of Music. He said that he would also be in consultation with other unnamed people about the proposal. He finally stated that Student Affairs would pay for the renovation of the 1,500 square foot snack bar in the Student Union to serve as the "beginning point" for the Cultural Center. In closing, he suggested that a "working committee" be formed to work on the renovation plans for the Union space and the hiring of a Director.
Over the course of the next year in the Black Cultural Center's history, the focus would be on the interviewing and hiring of a Director and the renovation of the Union snack bar for the interim Black Culural Center office. The agenda from the March 25, 1987 Administrative Council meeting indicates that Vice Chancellor Boulton was to report on the progress of the Black Cultural Center, but no other evidence of this happening has yet been found.
On April 22, 1987, the Planning Committee of the Black Cultural Center wrote a letter to the then chancellor, Christopher Fordham, and expressed a need for "active support" from the chancellor's office in this endeavor. The Committee listed five ways in which the Chancellor could give leadership to the future development of the Cultural Center. Included in these was adding the Black Cultural Center as a priority item in the University's Bicentennial Celebration. No documented response to this memorandum has been found. An exact copy of the April 22, 1987, letter to the Chancellor has been found dated October 9, 1987. No response to this memorandum has been found. Again on April 6, 1988, the Black Cultural Center Planning Committee wrote to Chancellor Fordham requesting financial support in the start up of the Cultural Center. It is evident from this memorandum that there had been a meeting with the Chancellor and the Planning Committee in the fall of 1987 but no minutes from the meeting are available nor is a response from the Chancellor to the April 6, 1988 letter.
On March 16, 1988, Vice Chancellor Donald Boulton wrote a letter to Kenneth Perry, then president of the Black Student Movement. In this letter, Boulton explained the progress that had been made on the Director search and the renovation of the Union space. Further in this letter Boulton states "...the Planning Committee agreed to use the Union space at the beginning so that the program could start. If we waited for a building, the Center would be delayed too long. This way, we will be open and operating, while still searching for suitable long-term space."
On July 1, 1988, Margo Crawford was hired as Director of the Black Cultural Center, and the interim space in the Union was open for business. From that point until September of 1991, very little to no progress was made on finding a permanent home for the Cultural Center. What started as a "beginning point" seemed to be quickly turning into a permanent home for the Cultural Center. On August 10, 1991, Dr. Sonja Haynes Stone, who had been one of the leading advocates for the Cultural Center, died of an aneurysm. Dr. Stone's death led to a rise in student activism around issues of social justice on this campus.
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