Oral History Interview with Elizabeth Brooks, October 2, 1974. Interview E-0058. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
Elizabeth Brooks discusses her role in the UNC Food Workers Strike of 1969. Originally from Caswell County, North Carolina, Brooks had lived in Hillsborough since 1949. Prior to working for food services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brooks spent her time raising nine children. The job at UNC was her first, and she had only recently started to work in Lenoir Dining Hall when the first stage of the strike began in February of 1969. Although she was a new employee, Brooks was one of the leaders of the strike. Here Brooks focuses on the workers' grievances regarding the unexpected firing of employees, low wages, unrealistic demands on workers' time, and withheld back pay. After failed negotiations with the administration, Brooks and some of the other workers organized the strike with the help of Preston Dobbins and the Black Student Movement at UNC. Within a month, the initial demands of the strikers had been met, but Brooks's interview ends by looking towards the beginning of the second strike that occurred after SAGA took over food services for the university.
Excerpts
Conditions leading up to the 1969 food workers' strike at UNC
Role of the Black Student Movement in the food workers' strike
Emergence of group solidarity in the food workers' strike
Leadership in the beginning stages of the food workers' strike
Makings of leadership in the food workers' strike
Community support for the food workers' strike
Resolution to the food workers' strike
Challenges to the results of the first food workers' strike at UNC
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Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
Subjects
Strikes and lockouts--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
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