INC NEWS - FW: Resolution of support for state highway marker: Royal Ice Cream sit-in

[Pat Carstensen]

Hi -- I think individual neighborhoods and INC may want to support a marker for the Royal Ice Cream sit-in.  THo maybe we would do it with a few fewer whereas's (-:

Forwarded message from John Schelp is below.

Regards, pat
> 
> Fifty years ago, seven Durham citizens participated in
> a sit-in at an eatery called the Royal Ice Cream
> Parlor. This incident is considered by many historians
> as an important precursor of the modern civil rights
> movement in North Carolina. 
> 
> We are having success in asking the BoE, Council and
> BOCC to endorse the resolution. The support has been
> strong and widespread.
> 
> We feel it's important to have a state highway marker
> erected at the site. The events of 50 years ago need
> official recognition from the state.
> 
> We are asking the InterNeighborhood Council to endorse
> the resolution below for a state marker.
> 
> Thank you very much for your consideration.  
> 
> all best,
> 
> John Schelp
> (group of supporters for the Royal Ice Cream marker)
> 
> *****
> 
> Resolution of Support
> 
> for the 
> 
> December 17, 2007 Appeal
> 
> to the 
> 
> Highway Historic Marker Advisory Committee
> 
> at the 
> 
> Office of Archives and History 
> NC Department of Cultural Resources
> 
> 
> WHEREAS, the Royal Ice Cream Parlor Sit-in occurred in
> Durham, North Carolina on June 23, 1957 and whereas
> this direct action protested the institutionalized
> racial segregation that existed in the Southern Region
> of the United States of America; and
> 
> WHEREAS, the social, legal, and educational
> implications of the actions of seven Durham citizens
> foreshadowed the civil rights movement that would
> unfold in North Carolina during the decade of the
> 1960s; and
> 
> WHEREAS, in retrospection, civil rights veterans,
> historians, and students increasingly point to the
> pivotal nature of the Royal Ice Cream Parlor sit-in;
> and
> 
> WHEREAS, in 2003, Durham’s R. Kelly Bryant
> meticulously researched, prepared, and submitted a
> formal application for an official state historic
> marker to be cast and erected near the site of the
> Royal Ice Cream Parlor; and
> 
> WHEREAS, the Highway Historic Marker Advisory
> Committee of the North Carolina Archives and History
> Department denied the Bryant request in 2003, citing a
> lack of historical significance; and
> 
> WHEREAS, several recent publications have increased
> the comprehensive awareness and the significant
> linkage of the 1957 events in Durham to the broader
> history of civil rights in North Carolina; and 
> 
> WHEREAS, the 2006 publication of the Encyclopedia of
> North Carolina edited by UNC-CH Professor-Emeritus
> William S. Powell makes several references to Rev.
> Douglas Moore and the Royal Sit-in.  This reference
> source also carries a famous photo of the Royal Sit-in
> participants.  This photo is from the collection of
> Virginia Williams, who was one of those participants. 
> The photo is a permanent part of the Durham Civil
> Rights Heritage Project, which is associated with the
> North Carolina Collection at the Durham County
> Library; and
> 
> WHEREAS, the 2002 edition of A History of
> African-Americans in North Carolina by Jeffrey J.
> Crow, Paul Escott, and Flora J. Hatley mentions that
> the 1957 Durham sit-in “presages” the modern civil
> rights movement in North Carolina.   Jeffrey J. Crow
> currently directs the Office of Archives and History
> and serves as the Deputy Secretary of the Department
> of Cultural Resources; and 
> 
> WHEREAS, the 2005 book Our Separate Ways: Black Women
> and the Black Freedom Movement in Durham, North
> Carolina by Christina Greene devotes several pages to
> the Royal sit-in and its significance to later direct
> action in other cities in North Carolina and across
> the South; and 
> 
> WHEREAS, The Durham Herald-Sun, The Raleigh News and
> Observer, The Triangle Tribune, The Durham News, The
> Carolina Times, The Independent Weekly, Bull City
> Rising, Bull’s Eye, Barry Ragin’s Blog, other blogs,
> Time-Warner Channel 14, WRAL-TV, WTVD-TV, other
> television stations, radio, websites, Preservation
> Durham, The Duke Center for Documentary Studies, The
> NCCU Office of Archives and Public Life, Durham
> Technical Community College, The North Carolina
> Collection at the Durham County Library, and
> word-of-mouth have helped to raise the collective
> consciousness of the importance of the Royal Sit-in;
> and 
> 
> WHEREAS, the 50th anniversary year is a noteworthy
> milestone that serves to honor the courage and
> commitment of the Royal Seven and people of all
> ethnicities and cultures who have worked to eliminate
> racial segregation and other human barriers; and 
> 
> WHEREAS, the 50th anniversary year of the 1957 Royal
> Sit-in brings special motivation and inspiration for
> improved interpersonal relations for the younger,
> middle, and older citizens of Durham and the entire
> world; and
> 
> WHEREAS, the audience members at the recent 50th
> anniversary commemoration of the Royal Sit-in
> encouraged R. Kelly Bryant to appeal the earlier
> denial by the Historic Marker Committee;
> 
> NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED
> 
> That we do hereby support, encourage, and endorse the
> efforts of R. Kelly Bryant, Virginia Williams, and
> others in their December 17, 2007 appeal to the
> Highway Historical Marker Advisory Committee at the
> Office of Archives and History for a state-sponsored
> marker that commemorates the 1957 Royal Ice Cream
> Parlor Sit-in in Durham, North Carolina.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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