Protests and legal action by American Indian citizens in Harnett County that led to school integration in 1961 soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker. The N.C. Highway Historical Marker Program is part of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The marker commemorating the Dunn High School sit-ins will be unveiled at 10 a.m. Friday, June 13, during a roadside ceremony at the intersection of West Cumberland Street and North Orange Street in Dunn.
Although the American Indians of the Harnett and Sampson County region have been recognized by the state as Coharie Indians since 1971, educational opportunities were limited in the preceding decades. Beginning in 1911, the state authorized separate schools for their children. By 1917, the Maple Grove Indian community that had formed near Dunn was large enough to begin petitioning for a school.
Maple Grove School opened in 1924. As many as 60 children attended at times, often taught by one teacher for grades 1 through 7. After grade 7, students had no school to attend until 1942, when the East Carolina Indian School opened in the New Bethel Indian community a few miles north of Clinton. Children in Harnett and Sampson counties traveled by bus, with the 35-mile trip taking about two hours each way.
By the mid-1950s, parents of students in the area became dissatisfied with the arrangement and began holding informal meetings at Maple Grove School. Between 1956 and 1960, parents of Indian children formally requested that their children be reassigned to Dunn High School but were denied.
On Aug. 30, 1960, Indian parents went to Dunn High School to register their children and were turned away. The next day, students and parents returned. The students quietly entered the classrooms and took seats. Two students were charged with trespassing. These sit-ins lasted several days and ended when a judge issued a restraining order prohibiting Indian parents and students from setting foot on Dunn High School property.
In October 1960, the families filed a lawsuit against the Harnett County Board of Education. A temporary order was signed by federal Judge Albert Reeves directing that the Indian children be admitted to Dunn High School until their eligibility could be determined.
By June 1961, the school board had received 40 applications for reassignment. On June 20, 1961, 20 students were approved for reassignment to Dunn High School, but 26 elementary-age Indian children were denied admission to the city’s elementary school.
The addition of Indian students to Dunn High School went reasonably well, it was reported. Later that year the parents returned to federal court to request that their younger children be admitted to Dunn’s segregated elementary schools. The county resisted, but in January 1964 a federal judge ordered the schools to admit 27 Indian elementary students. The county did not appeal, ending Indian school segregation in Harnett County.
This activism also paved the way for the county’s Black residents to file suit in October 1963. By August 1964, they received a favorable ruling in federal court, ending school segregation for all Harnett County residents.
For more information about the historical marker, visit https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2025/05/14/dunn-high-school-sit-ins-h-128 or call (919) 814-6625.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina – its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.