Motion Picture Filmed at Elon

Shaunta Alvarez

February 21, 2013

Did you know that a major motion picture was filmed on Elon’s campus?

Spike Lee speaking in Alumni Gym, February 1997

Acclaimed film director Spike Lee visited the campus in February of 1997 and spoke to students about the importance of staying in school. He also provided a one-on-one interview with the staff of The Pendulum during which he discussed aspects of his career and gave advice for young filmmakers. Eight months later, Lee returned to Elon to shoot scenes for the movie “He Got Game,” starring Denzel Washington and NBA player Ray Allen.

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Forbidden Love at Co-Educational Elon

Julia Mueller
February 14, 2013

For Valentine’s Day this year, we have a story of forbidden love at Elon.

In the early years of Elon College, being a co-educational higher learning institution was relatively rare.  Elon, however, offered education to both males and females, though strict conditions accompanied the interactions.  In 1907, faculty minutes expose the story of Marie Winn and L.I. Gay and their disobedience toward the college’s social rules.  The minutes are as follows:

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It’s Christmas in the Archives!

Katie Nash
December 21, 2012

For those of you who regularly follow our blog, this post will be different from all the previous entries. Our goal in 2013 is to include more blog posts about what we do in the Archives and Special Collections, as well as include any interesting projects we are working on throughout the year. Let this post be a sneak preview to other posts that will be written in 2013. Enjoy!

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African-American Commencement Speakers

Shaunta Alvarez
February 24, 2012

Rev. Joseph Evans

The first African-American commencement speaker at Elon appears to have been Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Evans, who spoke at the 1979 spring commencement. Rev. Evans was the national secretary of the United Church of Christ from 1967 until 1983 except for a year when he was elected president in 1976, becoming the United Church of Christ’s first and only African-American president. Rev. Evans’s message to the class of 1979: “My wish, my prayer, my yearning for each of you of this graduating class in these grand and awful times is that life will be kind to you…Life will be kind to you if you base it on a meaningful set of values…We are sustained over the long haul not by the abandonment to the ecstasy of the moment, but by what we trust and believe.”

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Black Music at Elon During Integration

Shaunta Alvarez
February 17, 2012

Although there were no African American students on campus until 1963, Elon was not immune to the popularity of the doo-wop, R&B/soul sounds that swept the nation during the 1950s and 1960s. As Elon began to welcome black students to the campus in the mid-to-late 1960s, popular black music groups were also welcomed. Between 1964 and 1970, several African-American groups were invited to Elon to perform during two of the most significant social campus events—Homecoming and Spring Weekend.

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Robbery at Elon College!

Miriam Pace – volunteer in Archives
July 29, 2011

Time:  3:00 a.m.
Date: Monday, December 1, 1952
Place:  Elon College Business Office

The sound of breaking glass and loud banging on steel…what was happening?  Thieves were trying to break into the safe! At 8:00 a.m. when Mrs. E.B. Huffines (acting treasurer of the college) came to work, the break-in attempt was discovered. The business manager, W.E. Butler, called the sheriff who soon arrived at the scene.

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