A History of Peaceful Protest
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
The Nov. 9, 1998, sit-in at the Thompson Hall office of President Joan Leitzel described on page 31 of the Tito Jackson ’99 feature story was not the first led by black students at UNH. In 1969, black students held a sit-in on the lawn of Thompson Hall to call for increased recruitment of minority students and faculty, as well as for a campus house where black students could meet and socialize. They also asked that the administration stop referring to them as “disadvantaged students,” according to John Laymon ’73, who recalled the experience at a 2015 Pioneer Black Alumni Weekend on campus. “We didn’t like that. We had James Brown. We were black and proud.”
Originally published in UNH Magazine Spring 2017 Issue
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