Excerpt Description: Ashley Davis describes the creation of the alternative soul food cafeteria set up in Manning Hall, where foodworkers and students gathered during the first Foodworkers’ Strike.
Excerpt Transcript: “Someone came up with the idea. What had happened was, while we were having the strikes, there was a building right next to Lenoir Hall and people were going into this building to rest, sit around and rest. This building was Manning Hall, which was the old Law School and people would go into what was the old main law library in there and sit around and rest and someone got an idea. Why not us open up a cafeteria? A soul food cafeteria. So what happened was that the workers got together and people donated money and everything and the workers cooked food at home or over at the Baptist Student Union, some at home, some over at the Baptist Student Union and all, would bring all their food there for lunch and bring all their food there for dinner and serve two meals a day. Running that day to day. And what the BSM did in that was just simply a matter of helping the people to get money to the bank, or getting people to help disperse the money. Really, it was a supportive role the whole time.”
RR: “Was it good?”
Davis: “What, the food?”
R.R.: “Yeah.”
Davis: “The food was very good.’”
Excerpt Description: Ashley Davis describes the creation of the alternative soul food cafeteria set up in Manning Hall, where foodworkers and students gathered during the first Foodworkers’ Strike.
Interviewee Name: Ashley Davis
Interviewer: Russ Rymer
Excerpt Transcript: “Someone came up with the idea. What had happened was, while we were having the strikes, there was a building right next to Lenoir Hall and people were going into this building to rest, sit around and rest. This building was Manning Hall, which was the old Law School and people would go into what was the old main law library in there and sit around and rest and someone got an idea. Why not us open up a cafeteria? A soul food cafeteria. So what happened was that the workers got together and people donated money and everything and the workers cooked food at home or over at the Baptist Student Union, some at home, some over at the Baptist Student Union and all, would bring all their food there for lunch and bring all their food there for dinner and serve two meals a day. Running that day to day. And what the BSM did in that was just simply a matter of helping the people to get money to the bank, or getting people to help disperse the money. Really, it was a supportive role the whole time.”
RR: “Was it good?”
Davis: “What, the food?”
R.R.: “Yeah.”
Davis: “The food was very good.’”
Organization: Black Student Movement
Excerpt Length: 1:03
Interview Date: 4/12/1974
Interview Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Campus Space: Lenoir Hall and Manning Hall
Citation: Interview with Ashley Davis by Russ Rymer, 12 April 1974, E-0062 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.