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Silent Vigil at Duke University
Immediately following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Silent Vigil (also shortened to the Vigil) was a social protest at Duke University that not only demanded collective bargaining rights for AFSCME Local 77, the labor union for nonacademic employees, but also advocated against racial discrimination on campus and in the surrounding community of Durham, North Carolina. Occurring from April 4, 1968 to April 12, 1968, members of the University Christian Movement began planning a campus-wide vigil in memoriam of Dr. King. Another group of undergraduate students called for a protest march to address prevalent issues concerning the primarily African-American nonacademic employees at Duke in Local 77. Together, both student groups, along with the support of Local 77, most of the teaching faculty, and civilians not affiliated with the University, sparked a non-violent demonstration that involved over 2,000 participants, making it the largest in Duke’s history.〔William E. King, If Gargoyles Could Talk: Sketches of Duke University (Durham: Carolina Academy Press, 1997).〕
The Silent Vigil stands out from other contemporary college movements due to the collaboration between primarily white students and faculty, and mainly African-American workers. Furthermore, unlike rowdier protests at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, Duke’s Silent Vigil received considerable praise for its peaceful approach, especially considering its surrounding Southern backdrop. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, the Silent Vigil not only aimed to externally change Duke’s white, privileged, and apathetic image in the eyes of the Durham community, but also internally set a powerful precedent on Duke’s campus for student activism in the future.
== Background and motivation ==
On November 13, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech about the Civil Rights Movement at Duke University, declaring that “(progress ) comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be coworkers with God...The time is always right to do what is right.”〔'“Audio of King’s 1964 Speech at Duke,” http://mlk.duke.edu/audio.html.〕 So many white and black students, faculty, workers, and administrators showed up that campus organizers had to put the speech on loudspeakers so that the overflow audience could listen outside on the Main Quad. Inviting the leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement to speak marked the University’s progress in terms of race relations. Until 1963, Duke had been a university solely for white students; the only black people on campus were the nonacademic workers who served students and faculty. King came during a time when Duke was starting to take part in the activism that had already taken place at many of its contemporary institutions in the North and West. In 1962, six years prior to the Reverend’s speech at Duke University, the University’s graduate schools had finally desegregated according to a vote by the Board of Trustees; one year later, five African-American undergraduates matriculated at Duke.〔“Celebrating the Past, Charting the Future: Commemorating 50 Years of Black Students at Duke University,” http://spotlight.duke.edu/50years/#black-history.〕 In 1966, Samuel DuBois Cook became the first tenured black faculty member,〔“African-American Firsts at Duke University,” http://spotlight.duke.edu/50years/african-american-firsts-at-duke-university/.〕 while an undergraduate group called the Afro-American Society was unofficially established to advocate for the rights of black students.〔Harry R. Jackson, “Coverage in University Publications of Events on Campus from February 13 to March 19”, May 27, 1969, Box 1, Folder 18, Allen Building Takeover Collection, 1969-2002, Rubenstein Library, Duke University, http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/findingaids/uaallenbldg/#abtms01018〕 Around that same time, African-American nonacademic workers had begun to come together through AFSCME Local 77, an unrecognized union, to picket for better working conditions.
Still, despite making racial progress in terms of bringing African-American students and faculty to Duke, several problems remained: namely, the University’s relationship with its African-American nonacademic workers, and a prevalent sense of racist attitudes among Duke’s administration. For example, workers were required to address white undergraduates as ‘Mister’ and ‘Miss’, clean the bedrooms of the male students〔 (because female students supposedly did not need domestic help), and eat their meals in the kitchen rather than the dining hall.〔Tony Dunbar, “The Old South Triumphs at Duke,” Southern Changes (1979): 5-8.〕 However, the most grievous issues the University administration neglected to address were the lack of a formally recognized union for workers as well as the meager wage the school was paying its nonacademic staff. In the 1960s, colleges and universities were exempt from the federal minimum wage of $1.60. This gave Duke leeway to pay its employees well under the recommended, $1.60 minimum salary; in fact, some Duke workers reported to earning less than a $1.15 minimum salary. In 1965, Oliver Harvey, a black janitor at Duke, organized the Duke Employees Benevolent Society (DEBS) to advocate for higher pay, improved conditions, and nicer benefits. DEBS became Local 77 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, affiliated with AFL-CIO. However, the University administration still chose not to recognize Local 77 as a union or grant collective bargaining rights to its workers.〔“Duke Employees’ Organizing Efforts”, The Herald-Sun (2013).〕 While past Duke students ignored these problems, they were not to be overlooked by the students in the 1960s, many of whom grew up alongside the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King inspired many students 〔Adam Eaglin, “Black and White: A History,” The Chronicle (2005).〕 when he spoke of the national shift towards racial equality, proclaiming, “And so I can still sing as we sing in our movement, all over the South and all over the nation, ‘We Shall Overcome!’”〔“Audio of King’s 1964 Speech at Duke,” http://mlk.duke.edu/audio.html.〕 Later, during the Silent Vigil, participants would join hands to sing “We Shall Overcome” as a tribute to the Reverend and his legacy in the Civil Rights Movement.〔
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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