Triangle NC marks 80 years of activism

By Lucy Lewis, Triangle NC WILPF Branch

Triangle Branch celebrated WILPF’s 100-year and the Triangle Branch’s 80-year anniversaries with an Evening of Celebration, Solidarity, and Resistance on November 6 in Chapel Hill, NC.

More than 70 WILPF members, friends, and allies attended the November 6 event. Because of the critical nature of the times we live in, we decided not to have a keynote speaker. Instead we asked our allies to be the keynoters for the event, briefly sharing the work that they are engaged in and suggesting ways that others can strengthen collaborations and provide support and solidarity. Remarks were shared by community activists in organizations including the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and state NAACP, Rogers Road Community Center, A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Balance and Accuracy in Journalism, Jewish Voice for Peace, Black Workers for Justice, Frack Free NC, and Abrahamic Initiative on Middle East (AIME).

These presentations were preceded by brief remarks from Lucy Lewis, Triangle WILPF Steering Committee, outlining key highlights of WILPF and local branch history. Triangle WILPF was founded in 1935 by Charlotte Adams, and has a long history in our community for independently organized vigils, protests, and advocacy but also as catalysts for other organizations and activities. Members were active in the local civil rights movement in the 1960s. From 1968-1973, Triangle WILPF conducted a weekly Wednesday peace vigil in opposition to the Vietnam War. In the 1970s, members Charlotte Adams, Tan Schwab and Beth Okun founded the Orange County Dispute Settlement Center. WILPF was active in Central America solidarity work in the 1980s as well as the local Rainbow Coalition.

In the 1990s, the branch joined WILPF member Yonni Chapman in successfully protesting the Cornelia Spencer Bell Award, named for a leading white supremacist of the 1800s; this effort was in many ways the precursor for current struggles regarding the racial landscape of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. WILPF members have also been active in workers’ struggles, including UNC housekeepers, Moncure Plywood workers (providing year-long strike support), Chapel Hill transit workers, and farmworkers.

Following dinner, Ruth Zalph and Peggy Misch were honored as WILPF Wise Women Elders for their decades of work for peace, freedom and justice. Ruth most recently walked across the state of North Carolina this fall with the NAACP’s Journey for Justice, a march from Selma to DC for “our jobs, our schools, our votes and our lives”. Peggy was honored in absentia, as she was in Palestine, the oldest member of a Code Pink delegation harvesting olives. The Raging Grannies began and ended the evening’s events with songs written for the occasion, and everyone present joined them in a finale of “We Shall Not Be Moved”. Pictures of the event can be seen here.

PHOTO: Community activists and friends joined WILPF members to celebrate the dual 100-year and 80-year anniversaries in Chapel Hill, NC, on Nov. 6.  Photos: Emily O'Hare, Triangle WILPF
INSET PHOTO: Ann Powers with Ruth Zalph, who was honored at the banquet in Chapel Hill.