Black Students Matter: Taking Over Allen in '69

Duke alumni from all walks of life reacted to the Allen Building Takeover by writing to President Knight in the weeks following the event. Although some alumni expressed a sympathetic view toward Duke’s black students and President Knight in their letters, many others expressed extreme disapproval. Duke’s more conservative and moderate-minded alumni chastised Knight in their letters for what they perceived to be his inaction and condemned current students for their perceived radicalism. Collected here on this exhibit page case are some of the more condemnatory letters from the Alumni Affairs collection in the University Archives penned by various Duke alumni in reaction to the events of February 13, 1969.