Welcome back to North Carolina
Lowenstein returned to North Carolina shortly after publishing his book, Brutal Mandate: A Journey to South West Africa. Lowenstein based his writings on his 1959 trip to that region, and the book gave him celebrity status in many circles. He had also been extremely popular amongst the students at Stanford, and had encouraged the civil rights movement in Palo Alto. Yet, 1962 was unsettling. Lowenstein came to Raleigh after a controversial year at Stanford11 and the end of his engagement to Barbara Boggs.12 He accepted the position in the Social Studies Department without knowing "as much about [NCSU] as a man usually does before accepting a position."13 Lowenstein may have been looking for a change of scenery, and considered the chance to move close to Chapel Hill too good to resist.
Many people celebrated the possibility of Lowenstein's arrival, feeling that North Carolina could benefit from his influence. The faculty enthusiastically offered him a position, and several area residents wrote to Lowenstein encouraging him to take the job. The director of NCSU's college union pleaded, "It would mean a lot to the campus to have you here. The College Union should be the center of political activity, and I am eager to have you help in bringing this about."14 Duke professor J. Wallace wrote to Lowenstein with advice: "take the job! we need you here."15 While friends joked about Lowenstein getting by the "loyalty check" system at NCSU due to his allegiance to UNC, they smiled about his return.16
The Raleigh Civil Rights Movement
Sparked by the Greensboro sit-in on February 1, 1960, students from Shaw University and St. Augustine's College started their own protests soon thereafter. On February 10, more than 130 students sat-in at several area lunch counters. These activities continued until Valentine's Day, when the students promised to end the sit-ins if officials agreed to drop trespassing charges against 43 protesters.17In April, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) sponsored a conference in Raleigh that gave birth to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This group organized voter registration drives throughout the south, most notably in Mississippi. Lowenstein worked with SNCC in 1963 and 1964.
From 1960 to 1963, Raleigh was relatively quiet as far as civil rights were concerned. When the SCLC's nonviolent campaign in Birmingham made headlines, however, the gears of the Raleigh civil rights movement began to turn full-speed once again. Certainly, this movement would have occurred without Lowenstein. Lowenstein, however, had established himself as a leader, and NCSU students turned to him for guidance. Lowenstein brought more white students into the Raleigh movement, as he would later do in Mississippi.
Partially due to the timing of Lowenstein's arrival, Raleigh felt his impact almost immediately. In January 1963, Constance Curry, the Director of the Southern Project of the NSA, sent him a list of people in the area interested in direct action.18 A student from another university wrote to Lowenstein asking him to investigate discrimination experienced by a friend.19
The Social Studies Department at NCSU offered two courses: SS 301/302, Science and Civilization, and SS491/492, Contemporary Issues.20 Although Lowenstein did not know very much about science,21 he was a student-favorite in Contemporary Issues. In this class, Lowenstein was not afraid to tackle controversial issues. In order to gauge attitudes about Raleigh's ongoing civil rights struggle, Lowenstein asked his students how they felt about the integration of the Varsity Theater and area restaurants. His questions had two parts: has the integration affected the students' habits, and have they affected the community as a whole?22 Although several students commented that they would not patronize integrated restaurants and theaters, most of the students commented that integration affected the college-aged population less than the community as a whole. Students responded well to Lowenstein's tactics, honoring him with the "Blue Key Award" for extraordinary service to the school in 1964.23
When students from historically black colleges, as well as members of the black community, began protesting in the spring of 1963, Lowenstein used his experience to help them organize.24 He also recruited white participants, especially from the NCSU community. The protestors particularly targeted the Ambassador Theater and the Sir Walter Hotel, as well as other establishments such as the S&W Cafeteria. Since most legislators stayed at the Sir Walter Hotel while they were in Raleigh, those protests were especially controversial. Although local officials wanted to prove that Raleigh was a progressive southern city, the legislators had to worry about their constituents throughout the state. Student protests in Raleigh threatened credibility at home.25 White faculty members who participated in the protests particularly irked the legislators. Lowenstein therefore became a target for many lawmakers, including George Uzzell and Thad Eure.26 As Lowenstein's stint at NCSU continued, Chancellor John T. Caldwell increasingly answered questions about why he allowed Lowenstein to remain at his university.
An example a demonstration at the Sir Walter Hotel occurred on July 12, 1963. That morning, police arrested four demonstrators. Undeterred, approximately fifty more students showed up later in the day. Sitting on suitcases outside the hotel entrance, the protestors drew 500 spectators.27 Lowenstein, however, was not at the protest. As usual, he was shuttling throughout the country. Since Lowenstein was not there to help organize, the students would feel the effects of his absence in the following days.
Even though he could not always attend the protests, Lowenstein put pressure on the Sir Walter in other ways. In early July, Lowenstein received a response from Malcolm A. McIntyre, president of Eastern Air Lines. McIntyre assured Lowenstein that their ticket office at the hotel followed a non-discriminatory policy, and that their director of community relations had investigated complaints against the hotel. However, McIntyre refused to tell his employees to boycott the hotel, explaining, "It does not appear that we should, or appropriately could, order our employees to alter their personal preferences so as to boycott any particular establishment."28
The July 12 protest at the Sir Walter marked a turning point in the Raleigh civil rights movement. By the time this demonstration took place, police had been arresting students for more than two months. The state legislature passed a bill that morning increasing the penalties for trespassing and contempt.29 City Court Judge Pretlow Winborne complained to student leader Charles Earle that the demonstrators were being impatient.30 The next day, lawyer Sam Mitchell said he would no longer provide legal assistance. Charles Lyons, spokesman for the Citizens' Coordinating Committee,31 also withdrew his support. Not wanting their children to demonstrate without support, parents began to plead with the students. As a result, the students toned down their protests.32
Lowenstein was furious that the students had backed down, insisting that they could have gotten support elsewhere. NCSU colleague Nancy Adams snapped back by reminding Lowenstein of his absence. "Now it's just great for you to sit up there and say...that they could get all the legal and financial aid they needed elsewhere--but no one was here to tell them that, remember?" Adams stated in a letter. She further scolded, "now you've left them, and it's not fair for you to say they don't have guts to continue what they started. They don't lack guts, Al, they lack leadership."33
Although Lowenstein's involvement in organizing area students caught the attention of many civil rights opponents, Lowenstein sparked the two biggest controversies without student help. One controversy was the Angie Brooks incident.34The other was Lowenstein's trip to Mississippi.
