Organized in December 1973 in Greensboro, N.C., the North Carolina Alumni and Friends Coalition (NCAFC) sought to strengthen the historically black universities and colleges in North Carolina, broaden African Americans' access to higher education in the state, and eliminate vestiges of the segregated system of public higher education that left predominately African American universities underfunded. NCAFC's membership comprised educators, students, community leaders, and the alumni associations of the five predominately African American universities of the University of North Carolina system (Fayetteville State University, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Winston-Salem State University, and North Carolina Central University). Sarah M. Bell-Lucas was committee chair of the NCAFC Banquet and Publicity Committee, 1975-1982.