Opened in 1973, Upendo Lounge was the first formal Black counter-space on the campus which operated to provide for the social needs of Black students within and against the whiteness of the University’s culture. Upendo served for almost two decades as the central social space for Black students, but faced tremendous scrutiny and retaliation from the University through established institutional practices of discrimination and neglect.
Opened in 1973, Upendo Lounge was the first formal Black counter-space on the campus which operated to provide for the social needs of Black students within and against the whiteness of the University’s culture. Upendo served for almost two decades as the central social space for Black students, but faced tremendous scrutiny and retaliation from the University through established institutional practices of discrimination and neglect.
Organization: Black Student Movement
Space Use: Student Life
Spatial Organizing Approach: Creation
Date Created: 1972
Date Ended: 2003
Campus Space: Upendo Lounge
Citation: Interview with Henry Foust by Monique LaBorde, 24 November 2015, N-0036 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.