A yellowed and fraying police arrest slip, worn at the corners, charges a Guilford College student — one of our own — Huldah “Beth” Taylor ‘66. The year is 1963. The crime is trespassing.

Taylor is not alone. She is joined by hundreds of other university students who are made to line up as the patrol vans swerve around the curb corners and come to a screeching halt in front of Greensboro’s S&W Cafeteria.

One of only four white students to be arrested on that fateful day — May 15, 1963 — Taylor was part of the long and harsh struggle against prejudice and racial discrimination in America.

The S&W Cafeteria saw massive sit-ins and protests that challenged the accepted norms of segregation in the 1960’s. Greensboro’s civil rights movement gained momentum with the sit-in at Woolworths lunch counter and turned heads with the massacre of 1979, which saw the death of five protestors after a march for fare wages by the local textile union.

As a Guilford College student, Taylor was also heir to centuries of Quaker traditions and values.

“Human equality is inherently present within Quakerism,” said Max Carter, director of the Friends Center and campus ministry coordinator. “The early Quakers who settled in Greensboro were highly sensitized to the issue of slavery and abolitionism.”

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean Adrienne Israel remembers the excitement and danger of the 1960’s and 70’s. However, she also remembers how many of the youth protested and marched for fame and attention rather than the desire to better the lives of those in need.

“I always tried to remember that whatever I got involved in should have meaning beyond my own life and experience and should be about something that would improve life for others,” said Israel in an e-mail interview.

So what does all this mean for the youth of today? Director of Multicultural Education Holly Wilson looks at the process as an ongoing and continuous one that involves taking chances, making mistakes, and moving forward as a community.

“Seeking understanding and being open to new worldviews will have a positive impact on the ways in which they can further equality and acceptance,” said Wilson in an e-mail interview.

Taahira Siddique, a student from Pakistan, expressed her desire to increase cultural awareness in the Guilford community. She and her friends Blessing Ihedioha and Gillian Mmaiti are part of the International Club at Guilford. Currently, they are organizing presentations and cultural activities in honor of African heritage by representing Cameroon, Haiti, and Nigeria.

Time leaves an imprint upon the minds of those who have lived to see it and history builds the foundation for the future over and over again. Even though the there is a great difference in circumstance between the youth of today and those of the 1960’s and 70’s, there is still work to be done.

“We are in the same place in terms of the need to seek justice and equality in our larger society,” said Israel. “Sexism, chronic poverty, and racially based injustices in our education system and other institutions still plague our nation and our world.”