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 The
placid, academic retreat of Chapel Hill, N.C., has always been
something of an anomaly in the South."
-- Newsweek, May 19, 1969.
Whenever Chapel Hill, North Carolina elected a new mayor,
few people outside of the small college town paid much attention.
But when the 1969 mayoral race came to a close, newspapers
and magazines from around the state, nation, and world reported
the news. Time and Newsweek ran profiles
of the new mayor and his photograph appeared prominently in
a West German newspaper. Why all the fuss? When the votes were
counted and the election was certified, on May 6, 1969, Howard
Lee became the first African American mayor elected in a predominantly
white southern town since Reconstruction.
Lee had lived in Chapel Hill only five years when he decided
to run for mayor. He moved to North Carolina from his native
Georgia in 1964 to attend the University of North Carolina.
Lee earned a master’s degree in Social Work in 1966 and
was hired to direct a research program at Duke.
When Lee and his wife began to look for a home, they found
that, despite the town’s progressive reputation, race
was still very much an issue in Chapel Hill. The Lees encountered
white residents who were reluctant to have an African American
family move into their neighborhood, and realtors who hesitated
to show them homes in white subdivisions. When, after six months
of searching, they were finally able to purchase a home in
the Colony Woods neighborhood, they received harassing phone
calls and a cross was burned on their front lawn. The experience
inspired Lee to enter local politics.
The 1969 race for mayor set records. The 4,734 votes cast
were the most in town history, and included a record turnout
from the Chapel Hill's African American community, which made
up nearly ten percent of the population. The race was close:
Lee’s margin of victory – about 400 votes – was
the smallest on record for a municipal election. He defeated
Roland Giduz, a former newspaper editor and long-time member
of the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen.
Lee served three terms as mayor of Chapel Hill. He received
64 percent of the vote in the 1971 election, and 89 percent
in 1973. Lee ran for Congress in 1972 and for lieutenant governor
in 1976, and though he lost both races in the Democratic primaries,
his career in politics was far from over. He was appointed
as secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Community
Development in 1977 and served in the state senate from 1990-1994
and 1996-2002. Lee is currently the chair of the State Board
of Education, the first African American to hold that position.
Nicholas Graham
May 2004
Sources:
Howard Lee campaign materials. In North Carolina Collection
Biographical Clippings, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Childs, Jack, "Negro Wins in Chapel Hill." News
and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), May 7, 1969.
Bridgette A. Lacy, “On His Honor.” News & Observer
(Raleigh, N.C.), February 20, 1995.
Shinkle, Kevin. "Lee Mulls Run Against Sen. Helms." The
Chapel Hill Newspaper, September 25, 1989.
Image source:
Howard Lee campaign brochure, 1969. North Carolina Collection
Biographical Clippings. North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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