Inspired by the powerful energy of “Black Week,” which brought national leaders like Dick Gregory, Fannie Lou Hamer, and future Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson to campus, the students risked their futures to stand up for justice.
Fannie Lou Hamer Credit: Alabama Department of Archives and History.
On the morning of February 13, 1969, approximately 65–75 members of Duke University's Afro-American Society entered and occupied the Allen Building, issuing thirteen demands that challenged the university to create a more hospitable and equitable campus for Black students.
What began as a student protest soon escalated into a pivotal and uncertain moment in Duke's history. As the day unfolded, law enforcement and state troopers gathered outside, and tensions mounted across campus. Realizing the risks were growing, nearly 40 students climbed out of windows and left the building.
Twenty-five students remained inside.
Faced with an impossible choice, they had to decide: leave and abandon their stand, or stay and risk arrest—and potentially much more.
Students inside the Allen Building during the takeover, as Afro-American Society Co-Founder, Chuck W. Hopson speaks with the media by phone.
13 Demands captures a powerful homecoming 50 years in the making, as many of the original student activists—some returning for the first time since they left—gather again at Duke University for the inaugural commemoration of the protest that changed everything.
State guard wait nearby in the Duke Gardens for orders.
Members of the original group of Black student activists who participated in the 1969 “takeover” of the Allen Building gather for a group portrait at Duke Gardens. (Not all pictured.) Credit: Duke University Communications.
The film also reveals how the bold courage and unshakable conviction of the 1969 protestors didn’t just spark a moment, they transformed the region, reshaped Duke University, and continue to empower generations of Duke students today.
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture’s Black Graduation Final Honors. Credit: Café con Leche Media