Uran (Hurion) Cox

Uran Cox of Pitt County was appointed in February 1950 by Governor W. Kerr Scott (1896–1958) to serve the remainder of the late Arthur B. Corey’s (1891–1950) unexpired term, ending in 1953. Earlier the two men had business associations in which Corey, an attorney, helped coordinate the sale of portions of Cox’s farm holdings. During Cox’s years on the board, East Carolina advanced from a teachers college to a four-year liberal arts college and continued to grow at a phenomenal level in enrollment, campus infrastructure, and faculty numbers.

Cox’s tenure on the board coincided with successive challenges to the school’s standing as a Jim Crow campus. In November 1951, the board responded to a request for scholarship funding for Korean students wishing to enroll at the school by affirming East Carolina’s charter stating that it was meant for the education of “young white men and women.” Then in May 1952, the board voted not to comply with a request communicated by East Carolina’s director of field services that ECC extension courses at Cherry Point Marine Base in Jacksonville be open to African American Marines. The board responded that the Marine Corps be referred to the school’s charter, thereby reaffirming the segregationist status quo at East Carolina. The minutes of the meeting record no objections from Cox or any of the trustees attending.

According to the 1940 census, Cox, a high school graduate, was a fertilizer salesman living in the Swift Creek area. His family also owned farming interests in Pitt County. Active in Democratic Party politics, Cox emerged prominently in April 1940 when he and the Pitt County Young Democrats Club (YDC) helped organize a major rally in Greenville featuring an address by U. S. Senator Josh Lee (1892–1967) of Oklahoma. In June, Senator Lee, originally a native of Union County in N. C., returned to Greenville, this time to deliver the commencement address at ECTC. The YDC forces, including Cox, behind Senator Lee’s earlier visit likely facilitated the Senator’s return two months later.

In 1950, Cox, then just months into his appointment as a trustee, assisted the YDC in organizing another major rally, this one featuring U. S. Vice President Alben Barkley (1877–1956), held in Wright Auditorium. In the months prior, Barkley had spoken several times within the state, perhaps making his appearance in Greenville seem less spectacular. While a major event, Barkley did not draw a packed house, disappointing some commentators. Also, Barkley was accompanied on the podium by former UNC president and current U. S. senator, Frank Porter Graham (1886–1972), then running for the office he held by appointment following the passing of Senator Melville Broughton (1888–1949). Although a highly respected university leader, Graham, who spoke at length, was considered by some too liberal on racial issues and so not well appreciated by all attending, perhaps compromising the event’s success. Not long after the Greenville rally, Graham was defeated in the Democratic primary by a far more conservative candidate, Willis Smith (1887–1953). That aside, the 1950 event was, until Senator John F. Kennedy’s (1917–1963) presidential campaign stop in 1960, the largest political event ever staged at East Carolina.

In 1952, Cox was appointed to a committee, along with Henry Belk (1898–1972) of Goldsboro, studying the laboratory school (now, Messick Theatre Arts Center) on campus where teachers in training did their practice teaching. The committee’s efforts ultimately led to a partnership between East Carolina and the Greenville Board of Education for expanding public elementary education by using the laboratory school as an additional facility. Based at the laboratory school but an integral component of the Greenville City School System, the partnership later prompted the naming of the laboratory school the Coates-Wahl — then, subsequently, the Wahl-Coates — Elementary School, honoring two East Carolina faculty, Miss Dora E. Coates (1891–1982) and Miss Frances T. Wahl (1895-1982), who were instrumental in its development as a center of teacher training and primary education. Wahl-Coates Elementary, later relocated off campus, transitioned administratively exclusively to the Greenville School System. While realization of this contribution to public elementary education only came some years after Cox’s tenure, his service on the board’s committee studying potential avenues of development for the laboratory school set it in motion.

In 1953, following the expiration of Cox’s term, Governor William Umstead (1895–1954) appointed Merrill Jennings Evans (1904–1993) of Ahoskie, former state senator and former state highway commissioner, to succeed him. Later, Cox continued his service to educational causes in Pitt County by serving as a trustee for the newly established Pitt Technical Institute (now, Pitt Community College).

Sources

• “Administration.” Tarheel Technician. 1965. Pitt Community College. Winterville, North Carolina. P. 6. https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/30479
• “Alben Barkley.” Sic 1944 [1950]. University Archives # P3595. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/6381
• “Alben Barkley and Terry Sanford.” Sic 1949 [1950]. University Archives # PAC577. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/1539
• “Alben Barkley, Harold Cooley, and Herbert Bonner with children.” Sic 1949 [1950]. University Archives # PAD044. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/1542
• “Alben W. Barkley, Terry Sanford, and Harold Cooley.” Sic 1949-1953 [1950]. University Archives # PA229. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/1544
• “Barkley Speaks Before YDC Rally in Wright Bldg.” Teco Echo. May 5, 1950. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38207
• Conner, Carl G. “Final Plans Underway for YDC Rally Tonight: Vice-President, Other Notables Attending Rally.” Teco Echo. April 28, 1950. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38206
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, May 17, 1952.” University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10264
• “East Carolina College Board of Trustees minutes, November 20, 1951.” University Archives # UA01.01.01.01.04. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/10266
• “ECC Board Holds Meeting.” News and Observer. February 17, 1952. P. 8.
• “E.C.T.C. Gives Degrees to 216: Senator Josh Lee of Oklahoma Makes Address at Graduation Exercises.” Charlotte Observer. June 5, 1940. P. 26.
• “Faculty Records: Dora Coates Papers, 1935-1962.” University Archives # UA90-46.” J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA90-46
• “Junius Rose [with Frances Wahl].” January 1954. East Carolina Manuscript Collection # 0741-b3-fa-v3.a.42. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/2115
• “Oklahoma Senator Heard by E. C. T. C. Graduates: Josh Lee Tells Seniors That They Are at ‘Beginning End’ of Education.” News and Observer. June 4, 1940. P. 3.
• Piner, Gene. “Barkley Will Be Principal Speaker at YDC Rally: Herbert Bonner Will Accompany Vice-President.” Teco Echo. April 21, 1950. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38205
• “Pitt Will Hold Big Rally Today: Greenville Young Democrats Ready to Hear Senator Josh Lee Tonight.” News and Observer. April 22, 1940. P. 5.
• “Pitt YDC Plans for Huge Rally: U. S. Senator Josh Lee to Speak at Greenville Monday; Big Crowd Expected.” News and Observer. April 17, 1940. P. 2.
• “Rally Committeemen Named.” News and Observer. April 19, 1950. P. 26.
• Records of the Chancellor: Records of John Decatur Messick, 1947-1959. University Archives # UA02-05. “Box 6: Cox, Uran, Member of the Board of Trustees, 1950-1952.” J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA02-05
• Records of the Chancellor: Records of John Decatur Messick, 1947-1959. University Archives # UA02-05. “Box 9: Sanford, Terry, Young Democratic Clubs of North Carolina, 1950.” J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/UA02-05
• “Retired Teachers Are Honored.” News and Observer. June 6, 1954. Sect. IV, p. 2.
• “Trustee Appointed.” Durham Herald-Sun. March 2, 1950. P. 3.
• “Wahl-Coates School.” 1950. University Archives # UA55.01.463. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22927
• “Wahl-Coates School Collection, 1922-1948.” Manuscript Collection # 6. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0006
• “YDC Roosevelt dinner, Greenville, N.C., April 28, '50.” April 28, 1950. East Carolina University Digital Collections. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/4178

Citation Information