John Kenyon “Yonni” Chapman, a local social activist most known for his work on race relations at the University, died after a 29-year battle with cancer Thursday evening. He was 62.
Chapman died at 6:06 p.m., according to an e-mail sent out by his daughters, Sandi Chapman Osterkatz and Joyce Chapman.
“His struggle is over, but our struggle continues, and what he would want from all of us is to use his passing to renew our commitment to justice, equality and to each other as sisters and brothers,” the e-mail said.
Chapman served as second vice president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People among other community roles.
Chapman received his Ph.D. in history from UNC in 2006.
“Yonni was a people’s historian, and he believed that you study history in order to rectify and remedy mistakes and sins,” said Alan McSurely, a lawyer for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP.
Chapman was placed in the local spotlight after spearheading a two-year campaign to retire the Cornelia Phillips Spencer Bell Award in the early 2000s.
The award, given to women who significantly contributed to the University, was named after the woman who in 1875 rang the campus bell signaling the University was reopened after closing in 1871.
As a graduate student, Chapman worked to reveal Spencer’s white supremacist tendencies.
“Yonni worked very hard to bring this to light,” said Carrboro Alderman Dan Coleman. “He dug into the history of the campus.”
Chapman was also involved in representing UNC housekeepers in the mid-1990s, who were then mainly black, when they fought for salary increases, said McSurely, who handled the case.
He said Chapman was to testify using his dissertation research on the role of the University and its 200-year history of racism toward the black community until the University settled.
“They did not want John Kenyon Chapman on the stand for two days giving some publicity to his historical research,” McSurely said.
Chapman was also on the committee to change Airport Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and helped bring to Columbia Street a historical marker commemorating a 1947 freedom ride.
“He’s one of those people who help to continue putting Chapel Hill on the map as a political activist,” said Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton. “A lot of us who knew Yonni are kind of seeing this as opportunity to renew our commitment to peace and justice.”
A celebration of Chapman’s life is scheduled for Nov. 8 at the Hargraves Center.
ATTEND THE MEMORIAL
Time: noon
Date: Nov. 8
Location: Hargraves Center,
216 North Roberson St.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
