CHAPEL HILL -- A memorial service for social activist Mr. Yonni Chapman will be held Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. at the Hargraves Community Center at 216 N. Roberson St. in Chapel Hill.
Mr. Chapman died Oct. 22 after losing a 29-year battle against cancer.
A reception at the community center, to be held prior to the memorial service, will start at 12:30 p.m.
Mr. Chapman earned a Ph.D. in history from UNC in 2006 at age 59. He wrote a dissertation titled "Black Freedom and the University of North Carolina, 1793-1960," which chronicled institutional racism at UNC and blacks' struggle for racial equality.
He also gained acclaim in the early 2000s while a doctoral student at UNC for revealing that the Cornelia Phillips Spencer Bell Award, given each year to a woman who made significant contributions to the university, honored a racist.
Mr. Chapman charged that Spencer lobbied to close the university after administrators and faculty were installed by Republican leaders, who at that time tended to be more supportive of the rights of newly emancipated blacks and therefore would have been seen as installing people with similar views.
The charge stirred controversy on the UNC campus because Spencer was a highly regarded figure known for ringing the South Building Bell in 1875 to officially reopen UNC after Reconstruction.
Then-UNC Chancellor James Moeser canceled the Bell Award and replaced it with three awards that honor women's advocacy.
Mr. Chapman also led Chapel Hill's efforts to garner a commemorative marker at Rosemary and Columbia streets to honor four men arrested in Chapel Hill in 1947 for their stance against segregated busing. The Journey of Reconciliation was the nation's first Freedom Ride.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Freedom Legacy Project c/o Joyce Chapman, 1007 Camden Ave., Durham, NC 27701.
