College students

SAF Rally, courtesy of Student Action with Farmworkers

Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) is a Durham-based non-profit organization committed to fostering collaboration and understanding between students and farmworkers in order to promote justice in agricultural systems and equitable, safe, and dignified working conditions for farmworkers.

Allen Building, front view

In 1969, there were only 85 Black students among Duke University’s undergraduate population of 6,000. The University was one of the last major institutions to integrate. Without a significant number of Black faculty or University leadership, the students had to advocate for themselves. They wanted an African-…

Durham County Courthouse

Singing songs and carrying signs that read, “To Make Democracy More Than a Word,” students marched from North Carolina College to downtown Durham, where they entered restaurants and stores that upheld segregation policies. The passionate students refused to disperse until the police hauled 130 of them off to…

Some of the students participating in the sit-down protest in Durham's Woolworth's Store on February 8, 1960.  Photo from Campus Echo on February 26, 1960

How powerful is silence? Can you really promote a cause by not saying anything at all directed toward authorities? North Carolina College students did just that. They vowed to fight against segregated serving policies through silent and peaceful protest. They would stand up, or, rather, sit down, for their rights. Following the February 1st sit…