Oral history interview with Ashley Davis, April 12, 1974

Ashley Davis arrived as a student at University of North Carolina in 1968 and became involved with the Black Student Movement (BSM). Still in its infancy, the BSM was a growing force on campus, and in 1969, the food workers at UNC asked the BSM for its support in their strike. Davis describes how leading up to the food workers' strike, Preston Dobbins, leader of the BSM, had gathered funds to hire Otis Light to work with service workers on campus. Primarily African American, service workers on campus often faced poor working conditions and low pay. By 1968, workers in the cafeteria had become especially discontent with low wages, split shifts, and unpaid overtime work. In the spring of 1969, the cafeteria workers, led by a group of women who worked in the Pine Room at Lenoir Hall, decided to go on strike. Davis emphasizes throughout the interview that the food workers led their own strike and that any assistance the BSM provided was supportive only. The BSM was there from the beginning, says Davis, helping to slow down service in the cafeteria by holding up the lines, thereby giving food workers the opportunity to walk out and begin their strike. During the rest of the strike, the