The Student Activism Subject Guide is a compilation of archival resources that is available to research how Wake Forest students have engaged with social movements and protests over the past several decades. The guide is arranged chronologically in a way that reflects the evolving demographics of the student body and related issues faced by successive generations. I also recognized and included the papers of faculty and staff who supported students in those efforts. This subject guide includes the records of various student organizations and presidential collections, as well as university records and publications that document campus administration and student responses to the changing social and political climate of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The guide directs researchers to administrative records, published materials such as books and newspapers, as well as audio-visual resources including recorded oral histories, documentaries, and photographs.

The history of student-led protest and activism at Wake Forest has often been defined by movements of silent defiance. However, peppered along this timeline of peaceful protest, are walk-outs, and boycotts, flag burnings, bunny hopping in Thruway Shopping Center, lunch counter sit-ins, and encampments. Historic events that have significantly influenced shifts in social and political thought within local, national, and global contexts can be identified by researching the history of student-led protests on the campus of Wake Forest. From the middle of the twentieth century to the present day, groups of Wake Forest students have made earnest efforts towards advocating for social equality as well as personal and academic freedoms. Former students formed committees and coalitions in response to local or global issues that resonated with them.

Driven by the admission of women students in the 1940s, the campus underwent a significant shift in student demographics, highlighting the importance of recognizing the diverse experiences between women and men on campus. The college, which was still affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, established strict regulations regarding student social interactions. Most notable was the 30 year dancing ban that was officially lifted in 1967 by President James R. Scales, the eleventh president of Wake Forest.

The Civil Rights Era marked defining moments in campus history. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., visited Wake Forest in 1962 and the first Black students were admitted during these years. Also, with the encouragement of Professor George McLeod “Mac” Bryan, white Wake Forest students joined Black students from Winston-Salem State University (then known as Winston-Salem Teachers College) to lead a sit-in protest at the segregated Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Winston-Salem. The Black Power Movement which extended from the Civil Rights Movement, and saw an increased number of Black students on campus. These events can be researched via presidential papers of James R. Scales and Harold Tribble, in student organization records and the vertical files. Also available are recordings of the Challenge ’65 lecture series that focused on race relations in America. There are also oral histories from Black alumni detailing their experience at Wake Forest.

Amidst the racial protests, the Vietnam War was reaching a turning point, and anti-war sentiments were growing as the selective service rules became more stringent and male students did not want to be drafted. Anti-Vietnam protests were happening on campuses across America, some more violent than others, and Wake Forest was not exempt. Students led marches for peace, held vigils, and memorialized soldiers from North Carolina who had died in combat. Spurred by the Kent State killings, there was also a march to President Scales’ home during which the students were heavily admonished and encouraged to be less “coercive” in their efforts. One year later in 1970, for NBS coach Bill Russell delivered a College Union lecture. During his talk, Russell made a connection between the Kent State shootings and state-sanctioned violence against Black Americans and encouraged students in the audience to acknowledge and respect the humanity in everyone.

Through the next two decades the 1980s and 1990s would see returns to women’s rights and body autonomy as well as revisiting race relations on campus through a series of committees and campus climate studies. Increased US presence in Southwest Asia and North Africa would encourage more vigils and peaceful gatherings on campus. In 1991 a candlelight vigil was co-organized by Rosalind Tedford, who was a senior at the time, and junior Scott Stubbs. The vigil was held in support of soldiers deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield. Wake Forest alumni Hannah Britton and AltonPollard visited South Africa and witnessed the oppressive condition of apartheid. Britton was president of Students Against Apartheid (SAA) and in February of 1991 the group led a campus-wide boycott of PepsiCo for the corporations ties to South Africa. The era of globalization is evident through enhanced travel abroad as well as the increasing diversity of students of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. Advocacy efforts shift yet again to focus on issues that impact or resonate with those students based on their experiences and passions. Policies and issues concerning immigration, LGBTQ rights, religious freedom, climate change, and students’ rights are now also inside the “Wake Bubble”.