Fifty years ago, food services workers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill went on strike for better wages and working conditions. The Black Student Movement supported the strike, which put a spotlight on labor and racial inequities at the university.
A new performance from Playmakers Repertory Company called 鈥淰oices from the Archives: The 1969 UNC Food Workers鈥� Strike鈥� uses material from the Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC to tell the story of this strike.
Host Frank Stasio talks to Jennifer Coggins about how oral histories, archival documents and news accounts formed the basis for this performance. Coggins is a collections management and engagement archivist at UNC Archives in the .
also joins the conversation to share what it is like to turn first-person stories into a theatrical production. Williams is a member of the , the director of the new production and a faculty member in the department of dramatic art at UNC.
鈥溾�� will be performed in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room in the Wilson Special Collections Library on Wednesday, March 20. The library also has an exhibition, called 鈥溾�� on view in the North Carolina Collection Gallery until May 31.
