Huck Gutman papers on the Silent Vigil, 1968

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Collection is open for research.
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Summary

Creator:
Gutman, Stanley T., 1943-
Abstract:
Stanley "Huck" Gutman received his master's and doctoral degrees from Duke University in 1967 and 1971. Gutman had a career in academia at the University of Vermont from 1971 to 2018 and in politics as advisor and chief of staff for Bernie Sanders. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Duke University students organized a peaceful protest for racial equality in April 1968. Up to 1,400 students slept on the Chapel Quad, food services and housekeeping employees went on strike, and most students boycotted the dining halls in support of the employees. The collection contains materials related to the Duke Silent Vigil of 1968 including a notebook of handwritten notes and transcripts from committee meetings. Also consists of a partial narrative of the Silent Vigil, photocopies of memos from Duke administration, and a copy of the pamphlet, "The Duke Trustees and Labor."
Extent:
0.3 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English
Collection ID:
UA.30.01.0101
University Archives Record Group:
30 -- Student and Alumni Papers and Materials
30 -- Student and Alumni Papers and Materials > 01 -- Individuals

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains materials related to the Duke Silent Vigil of 1968. Includes a notebook bearing Huck Gutman's name consisting of contact lists of Vigil participants, handwritten notes and transcripts of committee meeting and student conversations with administrators, trustees, faculty, and Local 77 during the April 1968 conflict. Also consists of a partial narrative of the Silent Vigil; handwritten notes about labor, leadership and Vigil evaluations; photocopies of memos from Duke administration; and a mimeograph of the pamphlet, "The Duke Trustees and Labor."

Most of the handwritten notes and loose pages are numbered. Loose pages have been kept in original order and some of the pages may not be in sequential order.

Biographical / historical:

Stanley "Huck" Gutman was born in 1943. He received his master's and doctoral degrees from Duke University in 1967 and 1971. Gutman joined the University of Vermont as a professor of English in 1971, where he remained until his retirement in 2018. He chaired the University of Vermont's English Department from 1997 to 2000 and was the Director of Jewish Studies from 2016 to 2018. He also worked as Senior Policy Advisor (2006-2008) and Chief of Staff (2008-2012) for United States Senator Bernie Sanders and co-wrote Outsider in the White House with the senator. Gutman has received awards for his academic achievements and has served on the boards of organizations like Vermont Council on the Humanities and Friends of Burlington Gardens.

Sparked by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, Duke University students organized a peaceful protest for racial equality that left few students, faculty, administrators or employees unaffected. Up to 1,400 students slept on the Chapel Quad, food services and housekeeping employees went on strike, and most students boycotted the dining halls in support of the employees.

The protest began Friday evening, April 5, when 450 students marched three miles to University President Douglas Knight's House with the following four demands:

• That he sign an advertisement to be published in the Durham Morning Herald calling for a day of mourning;

• That he press for the $1.60 wage for University employees;

• That he resign from the then-segregated Hope Valley Country Club;

• That he appoint a committee of students, faculty and workers to make recommendations concerning collective bargaining and union recognition at Duke.

Knight met the students and faculty members on his front lawn, and the group entered his house. While Knight negotiated with the group's leaders, the rest of the students sat in the hallway and sang protest songs. The students spent the night in the president's house at his invitation. Saturday afternoon, Knight attended and spoke at a memorial service for King in Duke Chapel. Following the service, 350 students and faculty marched to Knight's home to support the students still inside the house. Knight promised to release an official statement within 72 hours, but Vice President for Student Affairs William Griffith and Knight's physician William Anlyan told the group the president was about to collapse from exhaustion and could no longer participate in the negotiations.

The Duke Vigil officially began the next morning, Sunday, April 7, as protesters moved onto Chapel Quad. Coordinators demanded strict adherence to a set of rules for the demonstration. In their straight rows of 50 people, the students were not allowed to talk to each other or the press. Rigidly ordered, the quad protest was meant to symbolize the non-violent intentions of the group. The leaders continued their discussions with administrators, and Sunday night 546 people slept on the quad. Boycotts continued, and by Tuesday night more than 1,400 demonstrators assembled for the Vigil. Folk singer Joan Baez spoke to the rally, and Senator Robert Kennedy sent a telegram of support to the students.

The next day, Wednesday, Professor Samuel DuBois Cook addressed the students, and then Wright Tisdale, chair of the Board of Trustees, told the crowd the trustees and students shared the same concerns. He said the University would begin paying a $1.60 minimum wage and mentioned Knight's proposed committee to examine racial concerns. Following his remarks, Tisdale linked hands with the student protesters and joined in the singing of "We Shall Overcome." The demonstrators filed into Page Auditorium, where professors read an Academic Council resolution and tried to persuade the students to end the protest since the Board of Trustees had met the major part of their demands. The students agreed to drop their insistence on Knight's Durham Morning Herald advertisement and resignation from Hope Valley Country Club. After midnight on Thursday, April 11, 1968, the students decided to continue their boycott of the dining halls and pledged to support the workers' union, as they brought the demonstration to an end.

[Portions of this text from "'Profound History': Students answered violence with the Silent Vigil" by Laura Trivers, published in The Chronicle, April 4, 1988.]

Source: https://www.uvm.edu/cas/english/profiles/huck_gutman, accessed March 6, 2024

https://vtcynic.com/news/english-professor-retires-after-46-years-of-teaching/, accessed March 7, 2024

Acquisition information:
The Huck Gutman papers on the Silent Vigil were received by the University Archives as a gift from Huck Gutman in 2023.
Processing information:

Processed by April Blevins, March 2024

Accession described in this collection guide: UA2024-0002

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

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Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Huck Gutman papers on the Silent Vigil, Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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https://idn.lib.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1p45r