The Vigil, April 5-11, 1968
On April 5, the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, students mourned King's death and felt a need to memorialize him by making changes to Duke's policies. 350 to 450 Duke students marched to University House, President Knight's residence, to present him with four demands related to civil rights and non-academic employee wages. Knight did not agree to the demands, and about 200 students remained in the public part of the house for two days. On Sunday, the protest moved to the quad in front of Duke Chapel. Students stayed on the quad for four days, supporting the now-striking Duke employees in their demand for increased wages. At times, 1500 students gathered on the quad in support of the Vigil.
|
|
Front page of the Chronicle April 8, 1968 |
|
Students form rows outside the Chapel |
 |
|
|
Students sitting through inclement weather |
|
The rules of the Vigil, distributed by organizers |
|
click thumbnail to view larger images
919-660-5870
(Perkins Circulation Desk)
Unless otherwise specified on this page, this work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.