Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the John B. Dunne Papers #04391, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

The bulk of the collection was received from John and Emmaline Dunne, Perkinsville, Vt., in July-September 1984 (Acc. 84117, 84123, 84129, 84140).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social conditions.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century.
• Choate School.
• Civil disobedience--North Carolina.
• Civil rights movements--Alabama.
• Civil rights movements--North Carolina.
• Civil rights workers--Alabama.
• Civil rights workers--North Carolina.
• Civil rights--Alabama--History--20th century.
• Civil rights--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• College students--North Carolina--Political activity.
• Dunne, John B.
• Ehle, John, 1925- .
• Spearman, Walter.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Students--History--20th century.

• Walter Spearman Papers (#4484);
• Allard K. Lowenstein Papers (#4340);
• John Ehle Papers (#4555);
• Adelaide Walters Papers (#4293);
• Hubert Samuel Robinson Papers (#4123).

John Bailey Dunne was born in Boston, Mass., on 18 March 1943 to John and Emmaline Dunne. He grew up in Brecksville, Ohio. From 1958 to 1961, Dunne attended the Choate School in Connecticut, where he won awards as a fullback on the football team and was an accomplished violinist. At Choate, Dunne was awarded the Joseph P. Kennedy Memorial Scholarship and won the prestigious John Motley Morehead Scholarship to the University of North Carolina. Based on his work at Choate and placement tests, Dunne entered the University of North Carolina as a sophomore. In his second year, Dunne became involved with the civil rights movement, helping to establish a University chapter of the Student Peace Union.

In the spring of 1963, Dunne traveled with the UNC Tar Heel Press on a trip to Birmingham, Ala., where he stayed on to join the Birmingham Movement. While in Birmingham, Dunne was arrested and jailed for helping black parents find their children, who were being released from jail. After his release, Dunne returned to Chapel Hill, but by December 1963, he gave up all pretense of finishing school. Dunne relinquished his Morehead scholarship because of its segregationist philosophy and devoted his time to the Freedom Movement in Chapel Hill. Dunne joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and led protests against local segregated restaurants. Dunne's involvement with the civil rights movement culminated in a Holy Week fast on the lawn of the old Post Office. Convicted of trespassing, Dunne began serving a two-year sentence, which later was overturned. During the summer of 1964, Dunne was released on parole to Connecticut and, in the fall of that year, returned to school to finish his senior year at Harvard University, where he received a scholarship.

In 1972, Dunne graduated from Yale Law School, practiced law briefly in Boston, then moved his practice to Norwich, Vt., in 1975. Dunne married Faith Weinstein, a professor of Education at Dartmouth College, and had two children, Matthew and Josh. While in Norwich, Dunne was an active supporter of children's theater and Upper Valley Youth Services. Dunne died of cancer on 26 December 1982.

Correspondence, writings, newspaper clippings, photographs, and memorabilia of John B. Dunne, student at the Choate School, the University of North Carolina, Harvard University, and Yale Law School. The bulk of the collection centers around Dunne's activism in the South during the civil rights movement, 1963-1965. Most items are letters from Dunne to his parents, some from prisons in North Carolina and Alabama. Other items include letters to Dunne's parents about their son from John Ehle, Walter Spearman, and others; clippings about Dunne's acts of civil disobedience in Chapel Hill, N.C., and elsewhere; a few papers and articles written by Dunne; and items relating to the Dunne's memorial services. About 175 early items are enclosed loosely in a scrapbook.

Scrapbook (SV-4391/1)

Audiocassette (C-4391/1).