The Greensboro Uprising: ‘A&T’s greatest unsolved mystery’ (2024)

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – 55 years ago this week, the National Guard stormed the campus of North Carolina A&T State University as students and police officers exchanged gunfire in what became known as the Greensboro Uprising.

As the shooting erupted, A&T sophom*ore Willie Grimes was shot and killed. Tonight, his murder is considered the oldest unsolved homicide in the city’s history.

“It’s A&T’s greatest unsolved mystery,” said James R. Stewart Jr., archives and special collections librarian at A&T’s F.D. Bluford Library.

How it started

According to a report conducted by the North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights titled “Trouble in Greensboro,” the conflict began around the time of May 1, 1969, on the campus of Dudley High School.

“Dudley High School is sometimes known as ‘Little A&T.’ We are the Aggie Bulldogs. They are the Dudley Panthers. They are blue and gold. We’re blue and gold,” Stewart said. “We’re almost like brother-sister institutions.”

Junior Dudley student Claude Barnes had spent the year as junior class president but was running for student council president. Administrators, however, had reservations about Barnes taking that post.

“The administration did not want him to be the person because he was associated with being involved with the Black Panthers, or a black unity organization,” said Velma J. Simmons, A&T class of 1969.

Barnes was barred from the ballot. When elections were held, Barnes was overwhelmingly voted in by students on write-in votes. With the administration unwilling to honor the students’ wishes, they looked outward for support.

“They knew where to go,” Stewart said. “Just go over to Aggieland.”

As A&T students attempted to gain support within the community for the Dudley students, the high schoolers held rallies, walkouts and other demonstrations. On May 9, protesters entered the high school in an attempt to hold a mass meeting, resulting in school being dismissed. A day later, a meeting was held at Trinity A.M.E. Zion Church with students, parents and community leaders.

Five days later, students planned a walkout under the belief that negotiations were impossible.

The death of Willie Grimes

By May 21, students reassembled near the school. Police were called to the campus, but, after they left upon the dispersal of students, rock throwing broke out and officers reconvened to use tear gas to once again break up the crowd.

By that night, students had begun throwing rocks closer to A&T’s campus. Police barricaded streets, a crowd gathered and the National Guard was alerted. At 10:45 p.m., it was reported someone other than law enforcement was shooting in the capacity of a “sniper” on campus. Police continually returned fire throughout the night.

“There was a certain atmosphere around Greensboro that suggested that there was still some animosity as a result of the Greensboro sit-ins, and A&T was looked at as a haven for individuals who would cause trouble,” said Royall M. Mack Sr., A&T class of 1969.

About an hour into the following morning, sophom*ore Willie Grimes, a member of the ROTC at the university, and some friends decided to go to a nearby McDonald’s. As the shooting persisted, Grimes was shot and killed.

“One of his friends called us to tell us that he had been shot, so my father immediately said, ‘Well, I got to go to Greensboro and see how he was doing’ and everything,” said Willie’s younger brother, George W. Grimes Sr. “So, he was getting transportation set up and everything, and about two hours later we got another call back from the students saying he had passed away.”

Grimes’ death sent the campus and surrounding community into an uproar.

“I know there were unmarked police cars in the area, and I believe that probably he was shot by the police,” George Grimes said.

That sentiment was shared by many within the community. With reports of sniper fire continuing through May 22, Greensboro’s then-Mayor Jack Elam declared a state of emergency, and 500 additional national guardsmen were called into the city. A curfew was imposed. In the early hours of May 23, five policemen were shot and one was seriously injured.

“You had a lot of proud service students at A&T. A lot of people don’t realize that,” George Grimes said. “There were guys that had been to Vietnam and fought, so to pick up a weapon was nothing strange for them.”

As the campus was in turmoil, Mack and the Aggie baseball team were returning to campus after winning a conference championship in Virginia.

“The gravity of the situation didn’t hit us until we got to the intersection of Market Street and Benbow Road and they stopped the bus with the players,” Mack said. “Coach got off the bus and said, ‘What’s happening? We’ve got players that have got to get to their dorms,’ and they said, ‘No, the campus is closed.’”

Mack and the rest of players hadn’t showered after the championship, and many wanted to go back to their dorms. The men’s dormitory, Scott Hall, had been swept by police and the National Guard that morning.

“Coach came back on the bus and said, ‘Guys, we can’t get on campus.’ Then another national guardperson came on the bus and said, ‘Well, if you go on campus, you’re not going to be able to walk.’ So we said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, there’s bullets. There’s live ammunition.’ And so he said, ‘You’ve got some options. You can wait here on the bus until we get clearance or I can try to escort you to Scott Hall,” Mack explained.

He and about half of his teammates took the guardsman up on the offer.

“That scared you. It was fear. Terror. The smell is a sense, and there was a sense I was alive. The smell. Diesel fuel came from, I think, the armored vehicles, and the smell came from the ammunition fire. And that smell,” Mack said, holding back tears, “Just fearful. And because we had to crawl, you could hear the ammunition being fired. You could hear it, and even though it may not have been that close, it felt like it was close, so you didn’t want to raise your head, and the two soldiers that were escorting us, they were crawling as well because they didn’t want to get shot either. But it was that smell that has stuck with me, and, now, even in this old age, when I smell diesel fuel from trucks, it just brings it back.”

By the time the campus was cleared, and the Guard vacated the grounds, the university reported $56,759.76 in damages to buildings, equating to roughly $489,000 today. University officials say the damage was inflicted by law enforcement, not students. More than 65% of the doors in dormitories were reported damaged by being smashed or shot with shotguns.

“Wow. Wow, I had never read that before,” Stewart said while reading the report. “If that’s true, it’s shocking.”

In the days and months after Grimes’ death, officers publicly theorized he had been killed by a stray bullet that hit him in the back of the head.

“He said, ‘Well, he was only shot one time,’” George Grimes said, referring to the word of the chief of police. “Well, there was an autopsy done and I know for a fact that he was shot three times.”

The legacy of the tragedy

Grimes’ murder remains the oldest unsolved homicide in the city of Greensboro.

FOX8 reached out to local and state agencies in an attempt to locate Grimes’ autopsy, but none could locate it.

“There’s a plot on the campus, on the main part of campus by the old Dudley Building, that says, ‘The Cause,’” George Grimes said. “I look at that and I say, ‘Why did he die? Did he die in vain?’”

Days after the uprising ended, Willie Grimes’ fraternity brothers carried his casket during his funeral in his hometown of Winterville.

“It sort of gave you a sense of sacrifice. Somebody got sacrificed in order for this to happen,” Mack said.

“I never thought that they put any effort into trying to solve the crime. That’s my personal opinion. They just said, ‘We didn’t do it,’ and that was the end of it. I don’t think they ever tried to find who did it. If you don’t try, no, you’ll never solve the problem,” Simmons said.

As far as “The Cause” — and effect for that matter, the overall impact varies by opinion.

“Everything happens for a reason. God makes no mistakes,” George Grimes said. “It’s just that some hurt more than others. So I look at it in that respect, that it was his time.”

“I’m not sure our children, grandchildren, are better off than we were, which is bad. They’re having to deal with the same situations than we did, and some even worse. So hopefully there’s still light in the tunnel,” Simmons said.

“I remember my dad saying things changed in 50- to 75-year increments, but during those increments, things have to happen in order for things to change,” Mack said. “I think things have gotten better, I know things got better for my grandfather. He had it tough. But it got better for my dad, it got better for me and it’s gotten better for my children, and it’s going to get better for my grandchildren.”

Scott Hall was demolished in 2004. Four years later, the university presented Grimes’ mother with the bachelor’s degree he was unable to complete.

Today, four pieces of the Scott Hall wall stand on campus.

“My brother was a good man. He didn’t do anything wrong,” George Grimes said. “His freedom was just cut short. He didn’t get a chance to have kids, to finish college and go out and see the sights of the world.”

In a statement provided to FOX8, Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson said, “The investigation into the homicide of Willie Grimes, even though it occurred in 1969, is as important to our department as any recent homicide case. It’s still open, and we will pursue any new investigative leads we receive. Leading that effort is Detective Mike Matthews, who works these cold cases because of his knowledge and expertise. The door is always open to anyone in the community to come forward with new information that may help us solve this case and provide needed answers to his family.”