Jim Wrenn Papers, 1977-2021

Collection Number: 05625

Collection Title: Jim Wrenn Papers, 1977-2021

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.

Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size	1.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 365 items)
Abstract	Jim Wrenn is a white labor organizer, civil rights activist and researcher. The Jim Wrenn Papers, 1977-2018, document labor organizing, a sanitation workers strike, community building, civil rights struggles, and Martin Luther King Day celebrations in Nash and Edgecombe Counties, N.C. Organizations include the People's Coalition for Justice, the Consolidated Diesel Company Workers Unity Committee, the Carolina Auto, Aerospace & Machine Workers Union--UE 150, the Phoenix Historical Society, Inc., and the Bloomer Hill Community Center in Whitakers, N.C. Materials include newsletters, video recordings, speeches, writings, and digitized scrapbooks of photographs, clippings, and news releases.
Creator	Wrenn, Jim (James)
Curatorial Unit	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language	English

Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access: No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use: No usage restrictions.

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 Jim Wrenn Papers #05625, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information: Received from Jim Wrenn in May 2015 (Acc. 102225), December 2018 (Acc. 103506), February 2019( Acc. 103548), August 2019 (Acc. 103668, 103669), January 2020 (Acc. 20200117.1), and July 2020 and May 2021 (Acc. 20220413.1).

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.

Expand/collapse Processing Information

This summary description was created in November 2017 to provide information about unprocessed materials in Wilson Special Collections Library.

Encoded by: Laura Smith

Revisions by: Biff Hollingsworth and Nancy Kaiser, January, March, and October 2019; February 2020; Biff Hollingsworth and Dawne Howard Lucas, April 2022

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Jim Wrenn is a white labor organizer, civil rights activist and researcher based in Edgecombe County, NC. Wrenn retired in 2019 after 35 years of working in the Rocky Mount Engine (RME)/Consolidated Diesel Company (CDC) manufacturing plant, where he served as a shop steward for the Carolina Auto, Aerospace & Machine Workers Union-UE150 (CAAMWU-UE150), and as an organizer with the CDC Workers Unity Committee. Wrenn also has been an active member of the Phoenix Historical Society and has participated in many initiatives aimed at commemorating local historical events, particularly important events in African American history or the history of the labor struggle in the region.

Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The Jim Wrenn Papers document the People's Coalition for Justice, which formed in reaction to the murder of African American man by a white service station owner in Whitakers, N.C.; a sanitation workers strike in 1978 in Rocky Mount, N.C., and subsequent commemorations; community building and civil rights struggles in Nash and Edgecombe Counties; Martin Luther King Day celebrations, 1991-2020, at Bloomer Hill Community Center; labor organizing by the Consolidated Diesel Company Workers Unity Committee and the Carolina Auto, Aerospace & Machine Workers Union--UE 150; the Community Empowerment Alliance; and African American and labor history of Edgecombe County, N.C. Materials include newsletters, video recordings, speeches, writings, and digitized scrapbooks of photographs, clippings, and news releases. There are also photographs and digital video recordings that document Wrenn's retirement from the Rocky Mount Engine (RME)/Consolidated Diesel Company (CDC) manufacturing plant in June 2019, including interviews with Wrenn and fellow labor movement leaders Ethel Jones, Carolyn Beale, Marvin Arrington, Jerry Neville and Dennis Cobb.

Contents list

Expand/collapse Series Quick Links

Jim Wrenn Papers, 1977-2018 (Original Deposits of 2015 and 2018).
1A. Papers, 2004-2019 (Additions of 2019).
1A. Papers, 2002-2019 (Addition of January 2020).
1A. Papers, 2014-2021 (Additions of July 2020 and May 2021).

Expand/collapse Jim Wrenn Papers, 1977-2018 (Original Deposits of 2015 and 2018).

160 items.

Acquisitions Information: Accessions 102225, 103506

Digital Folder DF-05625/1	People's Coalition for Justice scrapbooks DVD with scanned images of three scrapbooks. Original scrapbooks are in private hands, believed to be preserved at the Bloomer Hill Community Center in Whitakers, N.C. The three digitized scrapbooks contain photographs, clippings, news releases, and other documents relating to the case of Charlie Lee, an African American man who was shot and killed on 19 April 1977 by Joe Judge, a white service station owner in Whitakers, N.C. Lee was shot by Judge during an incident in the service station where Lee felt he had been short-changed by Judge and demanded that he get his correct change back. Lee died two days later. Following Lee's death, the community organized as the People's Coalition for Justice (PCJ) and held numerous mass meetings, demonstrations, rallies, and a boycott. The Coalition also held their own mock trial of Judge, a "People's Trial" held on 17 September 1977, at the Bloomer Hill Community Center. The judge in the mock proceedings was Tyrone Alston, a Whitakers insurance salesman; the prosecuting attorney was Nelson Johnson of Greensboro, a member of the African Liberation Support Committee and the Workers Viewpoint Organization; and the defense attorney was Joyce Johnson, a community organizer from Greensboro, and Nelson Johnson's wife. Soon after, Judge was tried by the State of North Carolina for second degree murder. His trial was held at the Nash County Courthouse in Nashville, N.C. He was acquitted of the murder charge. The scanned scrapbooks contain documentation of the community's effort to mobilize support and photographs and other documents covering the "People's Trial."
Box 1	Rocky Mount sanitation strike Papers relating to the suspension of sanitation worker Alexander Evans and the subsequent 1978 strike by city sanitation workers in Rocky Mount, N.C. Includes copy of paper, "A Question of Ownership: The Sanitation Workers Strike of 1978 and Ideological Divisions in Rocky Mount, North Carolina’s African American Freedom Struggle," by Lisa Gayle Hazirjian. Also includes a program from a October 2018 event held on to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1978 Rocky Mount sanitation workers strike, and other related materials See also Southern Oral History Program interview #U-0464 with Alexander Evans and interview #U-0465 with Leonard Giles.
	Background information on Bloomer Hill community Includes an article, "Determined to Build a Community," by Ann Morris on Bloomer Hill (Southern Exposure, 1984) and a copy of "The Road to Self-Determination: Bloomer Hill, North Carolina," by Troy Fiesinger (a senior thesis, Duke University, 1991).
	Martin Luther King Day celebrations at Bloomer Hill Community Center In January 1990, workers at the Consolidated Diesel Company plant in Whitakers petitioned the company for a paid holiday for Martin Luther King Day. After eight months of negotiations, the company agreed. In 1991, labor organizers joined with leaders of the local African American community to host the first Martin Luther King Day Celebration at the nearby Bloomer Hill Community Center. This folder contains programs and other materials relating to Martin Luther King Day Celebrations, 1991-2010.
	Unity News, 1992-2012 A labor union newsletter published by the CDC Workers Unity Committee, Whitakers, N.C. The newsletter is distributed on the "shop floor" at the Cummins diesel engine plant in Rocky Mount, N.C.
	Unity News special bulletins
	Community News, 1997-1998 A newsletter published by the Community Empowerment Alliance.
	Lawsuit filed by CDC Workers Unity Committee
	Writings and speeches of Jim Wrenn A copy of a speech given by Wrenn at the 2010 MLK Day celebration at the Bloomer Hill Community Center in Whitakers, NC. In 1990 the union successfully petitioned the plant for a paid Martin Luther King holiday. The original deposit contains recordings and other materials related to this effort and from some of the MLK Day celebrations over the years.
	Articles about CAAMWU Contains copies of legal proceedings and articles relating to a lawsuit filed by the CDC Workers Unity Committee and the National Labor Relations Board against the Consolidated Diesel Company, which alleged that the company blocked the labor union from distributing union literature at the manufacturing plant and harassed union leaders. The labor union won the case, which was also later upheld by the Fourth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.
	"This is the Value of Our Labor: The Non-majority Union Approach in U.S. Manufacturing," 2012 Essie Ablavsky thesis on CAAMWU.
	Background materials on labor organizing
	Phoenix Historical Society publications Includes three publications relating to historical events relating to labor organizing in Edgecombe County, N.C.
Videotape VT-05625/1	Martin Luther King Day, 21 January 2002 Sponsored by the CDC Workers Committee at the Bloomer Hill Community Center in Whitakers, N.C.
Digital Folder DF-05625/2	Bloomer Hill Community Center: Martin Luther King Day, 2005 Video recording
Digital Folder DF-05625/3	Bloomer Hill Community Center: Martin Luther King Day, 2009 Video recording

Expand/collapse Series 1A. Papers, 2004-2019 (Additions of 2019).

50 items.

Processing Note: Digital files in Accession 103669 were organized into topical folders by the collecting archivist, Biff Hollingsworth. All folder titles were assigned by the archivist, unless otherwise noted.

The additions of 2019 include paper and digital copies of newsletters, flyers, research reports, and programs for events recognizing African American and labor history in Edgecombe County, N.C., that were created by the Phoenix Historical Society, Inc. and Knights of Labor. There are also photographs and digital video recordings that document Wrenn's retirement from the Rocky Mount Engine (RME)/Consolidated Diesel Company (CDC) manufacturing plant in June 2019, including interviews with Wrenn and fellow labor movement leaders Ethel Jones, Carolyn Beale, Marvin Arrington, Jerry Neville and Dennis Cobb.

Box 2	Papers, 2004-2017 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103548 Materials include Unity News, 2004-2007, and research reports, programs, and flyers, 2012-2017, for events recognizing African American and labor history in Edgecombe County, N.C., that were created by the Phoenix Historical Society, Inc. and Knights of Labor.
	Unity News, 2019 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103668
Digital Folder DF-05625/11	Celebration of Unsung Heroes of Edgecombe County, 27 April 2019 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/10	George Henry White Day banquet in Durham, 2016 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/7	Historic Designation Status for Franklinton Center at Bricks, 2011 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/4	Historical Marker for 1978 Rocky Mount Sanitation Strike Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/14	Jim's Retiring, 2019 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669 Processing Note: Folder title supplied by donor.
Digital Folder DF-05625/8	Knights of Labor historical marker, 2012 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/9	MLK Day events in Whitakers, 2016 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/5	Phoenix Historical Society program on 1978 Rocky Mount Sanitation Strike Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/15	Photos taken at Bloomer Hill Community Center, 19 June 2019 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/13	RMEP celebration, Drake Community Center, Battleboro, NC, 4 June 2019 Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/12	RMEP Running Team Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669
Digital Folder DF-05625/6	Rocky Mount City Council apologizes to 1978 workers Acquisitions Information: Accessions 103669

Expand/collapse Series 1A. Papers, 2002-2019 (Addition of January 2020).

100 items.

Acquisitions Information: Accession 20200117.1

The addition consists of papers relating to Carolina Auto, Aerospace & Machine Workers Union CAAMWU-UE local 150 labor union; Black Workers for Justice; the Rocky Mount, N.C. sanitation workers strike commemorations; health care, grievances, and a lawsuit relating to the Cummins diesel plant; and miscellaneous papers concerning worker rights.

Box 2	Unity News, 2015, 2019
	CAAMWU-UE local 150 meeting minutes, 2008, 2019
	UE150 publications, 2008, 2015
	Black Workers for Justice, 2002-2008
	Rocky Mount, N.C., sanitation workers strike commemorations, 2018-2019
	Health care at Cummins Diesel Plant
	Cummins Diesel Plant Grievances, 2002, 2006
	National Labor Relations Board and Cummins, 2018 Includes legal documents relating to Austin v. Cummins.
	Miscellaneous papers, 2008, 2019 News and other information about workers rights.

Expand/collapse Series 1A. Papers, 2014-2021 (Additions of July 2020 and May 2021).

40 items.

Acquisitions Information: Accession 20220413.1

The addition consists of publications relating to Carolina Auto, Aerospace & Machine Workers Union CAAMWU-UE local 150 labor union, including issues of Unity News, the UE Local 150 newsletter, the March 2014 Mental Health Workers Safety, Rights and Raises Report, and materials pertaining to the 2020 Martin Luther King Day celebration in Whitakers, N.C.

Box 2

Expand/collapse Items Separated

Digitized scrapbook (DF-05625/1-15)
Videotape (VT-05625/1)

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Collection Number: 05625 Collection Title: Jim Wrenn Papers, 1977-2021