A completely student-led desegregation protests at Adkin High School, over seven hundred students walked out of class to protest the unequal facilities between their all-black school and the all-white school in Kinston, North Carolina. After picketing outside for weeks they successfully obtained updates to their school. However, the school remained segregated until the 1970s. This is worth including because their protest took place years before Brown v. Board of Education and was nearly identical to those of the future movements, namely the Birmingham Children's March. Moreover, they were successful. 1
Image Credit in Order of Appearance
Khan, Nikki. "To Protest Segregation, They Walked Out of Their Classroom and into History." Digital image. The Washington Post. September 22 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/to-protest-segregation-they-walked-out-of-their-classroom-and-into-history/2016/09/22/069f160e-7e75-11e6-8d13-d7c704ef9fd9_story.html?utm_term=.3a4bdd45e94f
"Adkin High School, c. 1928: Southeast corner, Clay Street and East Washington Avenue, Lenoir County, Kinston, North Carolina." Digital Image. NCpedia via State Archives of North Carolina. http://www.ncpedia.org/adkin-high-school-walkout-1951.
Videos
The following videos will provide you with the voices of those involved in events of the Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina.
This long interview is of some of the Adkin High School's protestors provided by the Library of Congress. They discuss life in North Carolina during this time and their experiences with the protest.
- Note that a transcript is available at: https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2010039_crhp0096/
This short interview of Rev. William Moore discusses student motivation to stage solidarity sit-ins after hearing about the Greensboro sit-ins and the treatment of these solidarity protestors.