To combat this, the Negro Civic Club became the key advocacy group for Chapel Hill's Black community in the 1920s-40s and proposed the idea of a recreation center in 1935.

[6][7] Original plans for the center included a nursery for working mothers, kitchen, woodworking shop, event hall, club rooms, a headquarters for a local nurse, and showers that were to be open to all in the community.

[5] However, funding from the WPA fell short in May 1941 due to the war, causing the project to stall until the In August 1942 the Navy's Carolina Flight School's All-Negro Band arrived to Chapel Hill.

The 40-man unit was made of sailors The band needed somewhere to stay, so the project was halted and the Navy preflight school was placed on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's campus.

In 1948, Frank Robinson and Edwin Caldwell Jr. met with the president of UNC in an attempt to gain access to the university's pool for black children at least one day a month.

[10] After years of discussion and funding from a number of different sources, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted to issue over $3 million dollars in bonds to complete the construction of a new gymnasium at the center.

[11] Today, the center offers a wide range of recreation facilities including a baseball/softball field, indoor & outdoor basketball courts, meeting rooms, picnic areas, and a playground.

[1] May 9, 1960: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at various locations about racial justice through passive resistance within Chapel Hill, such as the university and the then-named African American Center.