A full page of the 1927 Tecoan was dedicated to recognizing various black personnel on campus in the twenties. An earlier picture, in the Training School Quarterly, depicting the kitchen staff revealed that from the start, blacks were part of campus operations. According to the “separate but equal” division of the day, sanctioned by the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision, black students attended black schools, and whites, white schools. East Carolina had been founded, according to its charter, for the education of “white young men and women.” The caption, “We Couldn’t Do Without Them,” is both complimentary and condescending. It might be added that President Wright rarely if ever spoke of his students in racial terms. Rather they were described as “young men and women.” Normal schools for blacks were found in Fayetteville and Elizabeth City, and both had been established before East Carolina. Noteworthy as well is that John H. Bizzelle, a black man, served as supervisor of Housekeeping at East Carolina from 1934 until his retirement forty-five years later, in 1979. Well before the student body was desegregated, campus staff were clearly so.
Citation Information
Title: We Couldn’t DoWithout Them
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 7/18/2019