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Watts Restaurant and Grill was a former restaurant operating in Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina throughout the 1950s and 60s.[1][2]
| Watts Restaurant and Grill | |
|---|---|
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| Restaurant information | |
| Established | early 1950s |
| Closed | March 1965 |
| Previous owner(s) | Austin and Jeppie Watts |
| Street address | 3819 S Columbia Street |
| City | Chapel Hill |
| State | North Carolina |
History edit
Origin edit
Watts Restaurant was founded in the early 1950s by Austin and Jeppie Watts.[3]
Rise and Expansion edit
In the 1950s and 1960s, Watts Grill became a preferred venue for fraternities and organizations [4] at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as the KKK.[5] Despite their growing popularity, Austin and Jeppie Watts remained adamant in their ways, refusing to serve any Black clientele.[6]
Diversification edit
Background edit
In the 1960s, Chapel Hill was a small college town in the midst of the civil rights movement. While the town had a reputation for being liberal, about a quarter of Chapel Hill's institutions were still segregated.[7] In 1963, sit-in campaigns were organized all around the town to attempt to convince the local businesses to integrate.[8] These events led to 1500 arrests in Chapel Hill alone.[9]
The Sit-ins edit
On January 2, a group of six people entered the restaurant, wanting to be served food. However, when the owners refused to serve them, the protestors decided to lay down on the floor.[10] One of the protestors included Lou Calhoun, a white senior at the University of North Carolina. When he refused to leave the restaurant, Jeppie Watts decided to urinate on him. The police were called and all of the demonstrators were arrested for trespassing.[11]
The prior incident was followed by another attempt at a sit-in protest by eleven UNC and Duke professors.[12] The Duke professors included Peter Klopfer and David Smith as well as three members of the religion department. Among the professors from UNC were William Wynn and Albert Amon, who arrived at Watts "determined to be arrested."[13] The group did not enter Watt's, as they were stopped in the parking lot by restaurant staff. They were sprayed with hoses and beaten before the police department arrived and arrested them for trespassing.[14]
Throughout the spring of that year, trials were held for many of the demonstrators involved in the sit-ins. Several protestors were found guilty of criminal trespass and sentenced to several months in jail.[15][16] The severity of the sentences of the demonstrators were later reduced by Terry Sanford.[17]
Goals of the Protests edit
The sit-ins at Watts Restaurant were part of a broader movement[18] in the town of Chapel Hill.[19] Each of the individual demonstrations at Watts caused an outrage from multiple newspapers across the entire state of North Carolina.[20]
Transition & Decline edit
Desegregation edit
After Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964, Austin and Jeppie Watts still refused to desegregate their establishment.[21]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Watts Motel and Restaurant". North Carolina Postcards.
- ^ "Watts Grill (1964) | NC AAHC". aahc.nc.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "3819 S. COLUMBIA ST. / WATTS GRILL / WATTS RESTAURANT & WATTS MOTEL | Open Orange". openorangenc.org. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "3819 S. COLUMBIA ST. / WATTS GRILL / WATTS RESTAURANT & WATTS MOTEL | Open Orange". openorangenc.org. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ "Watts Grill (1964) | NC AAHC". aahc.nc.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ "Watts Restaurant and Watts Motel | From the Rock Wall". fromtherockwall.org. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ "I Raised My Hand to Volunteer". University of North Carolina: UNC Libraries.
- ^ Pollitt, Daniel (1965-06-01). "Legal Problems in Southern Desegregation: The Chapel Hill Story". North Carolina Law Review. 43 (4): 689.
- ^ Ehle, John (1965). The Free Men (1st ed.). New York, New York: Harper & Row. pp. 116–150.
- ^ Wallace, Jim. "A demonstrator is attacked at Watts Restaurant during a sit-in in Chapel Hill, NC". fromtherockwall.org. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "History - Watts Grill - Holy Trinity Anglican Church (Chapel Hill)". Holy Trinity Anglican Church. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ Mosnier, Joseph (1996). "The Demise of an"Extraordinary Criminal Procedure": Klopfer v. North Carolina and the Incorporation of the Sixth Amendment's Speedy Trial Provision" (PDF). Journal of Supreme Court History. 2: 136–160.
- ^ Ehle, John (1965). The Free Men (1st ed.). New York, New York: Harper & Row. pp. 145–150.
- ^ "History - Watts Grill - Holy Trinity Anglican Church (Chapel Hill)". Holy Trinity Anglican Church. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "Documenting the American South: Oral Histories of the American South". docsouth.unc.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "Page 37". digital.ncdcr.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement -- Pat Cusick". www.crmvet.org. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "Fred Battle and Bob Gilgor, conducted by Oral History Interview with Fred Battle, January 3, 2001. Interview K-0525. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)". docsouth.unc.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "Carol Brooks and Keith Edwards - On the Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill | From the Rock Wall". fromtherockwall.org. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ Bulkley, Joel (7 January 1964). ""New Year Brings Race Violence to Chapel Hill"". The Daily Tar Heel.
- ^ "Civil Rights Act (1964)". National Archives. 2021-10-05. Retrieved 2023-04-26.