Erwin Library – Wayne Community College | Goldsboro, NC

Sometimes, you just want to sit beneath one to get out of the sun; sometimes you just can’t resist a climb to its top, and other times it’s a treat to listen to the music its many leaves make, or jump into a pile of them once summer’s music is done.  What are they?  Find out at Children’s Storytime in the Erwin Library on Wednesday, September 27^th from 9:00 -10:00 a.m.

With the presence of Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, N.C., the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. Air Force on September 18, 1947 holds special significance for students at WCC, many of whom are veterans or have ties to those who have served in the U.S.A.F.  Books now on display in the Circulation Desk exhibit area for you to check out cover many personal as well as general histories of this branch of the U.S. military, as well as the development of aircraft and aviation in the U.S.  More history about the units at Seymour Johnson can be found in the Historical Digital Collections site available through the base library.

Beginning this September, you will find books on display in the Erwin Library Reference exhibit area which focus on two landmarks in the African American Civil Rights struggle of the 1950-1960s.  First, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, issued on May 17, 1954,  in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case, that “state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional,” groups for and against speeding up public school de-segregation braced for a practical test of the ruling.

The most dramatic test of this decision began with the admission in September 1957 of nine black teens to the Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Arkansas had already de-segregated even of its eight universities and had agreed to begin integrating the public schools, but the attention of media, intervention of groups of parents violently opposed to the teens’ entering the school, as well as the presence at the instigation of the state governor of armed military personnel, first to “wave off” the new students from entering the building, then, later, on the orders of President Eisenhower, to protect the students so they could enter, caused these few weeks to become something of a nightmare.

These students became known as the Little Rock Nine, and despite continued bullying as they worked toward their high school degree, they are now a symbol of bravery and determination to learn in the face of prejudice.  Learn more about each of these courageous teens’ lives after that long September sixty years ago, and the Foundation they have formed to advance the cause of education for needy and worthy students.

What did WCC students do in 1972? How about those hairdos .. and that’s the faculty! You’ll see it was a slightly different world, but still Goldsboro and still our school as you flip through thirteen newly digitized WCC Yearbooks (Yearbooks link) published between 1964 and 1985, now part of the WCC Historical Archives. You’ll also find the WCC Campus Voice newspaper (See: Newspapers) published between 1968 and 2008, and the WCC Renaissance literary magazine (See: Campus Publications) for 1985 through the present.