Activists Authorities The 1969 Greensboro uprising occurred on and around the campuses of James B. Dudley High School and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) in Greensboro, North Carolina, when, over the course of May 21 to May 25, gunfire was exchanged between student protesters, police and National Guard.
The uprising was sparked by perceived civil rights issues at the segregated high school, when a popular student council write-in presidential candidate was denied his landslide victory allegedly because school officials feared his activism in the Black Power movement.
[1] The uprising ended soon after the National Guard made a sweep of A&T college dormitories, taking hundreds of students into protective custody.
They found the National Guard invasion reckless and disproportionate to the actual danger, and criticized local community leaders for failing to help the Dudley High School students when the issues first emerged.
[3][17] Community members, some of whom were also affected by the tear gas canisters, began throwing rocks at police and cars, while students from Dudley High went again to A&T to appeal for assistance.
Johnson claims that the first gunfire was instigated by a carload of young white people who fired onto the A&T campus, prompting the students to defend themselves in kind.
to 5 a.m.[22] During the day of May 22, violence continued, as protesters vented their anger on white motorists, overturning cars and attacking at least one of the drivers.
[5] That evening, in spite of the curfew, shooting resumed[17] Early in the morning of the 23rd, a shoot-out resulted in the serious injuries of five policemen and two students, which was followed by what was described at the time by one journalist as "the most massive armed assault ever made against an American university", with—according to 2012's The Black Revolution on Campus—the descent upon A&T of 600 National Guardsmen, a tank, a helicopter, an airplane and several armed personnel carriers.
[5] At approximately 7:00 a.m., supported by smoke, "nausea" and tear gas grenades, the National Guard swept through the dorm, placing the students they found under protective custody and doing tens of thousands worth of dollars in damage.
[5][7] Governor Scott stated that the violence had been incited by a group of hard-core militants who had seized on the high school election as a catalyst for furthering their own cause.
[27] While local officials continued blaming "outsiders" and "radicals" for the event, the committee found that the "prevailing system" at Dudley was unjust and that the school had suppressed dissent.
"[2] They also condemned the conduct of the National Guard sweep of Scott Hall, which endangered innocent students and seemed out of proportion to the actual risk, writing that "it is difficult to justify the lawlessness and the disorder in which this operation was executed.
"[24] In 1979, Jack Elam, Greensboro's mayor during the event, expressed discomfort with the sweep of Scott Hall, but—although he agreed that communication had been poor—declared the committee's report a "joke".