Campaign flyer from Joe’s first Chapel Hill Town Council race, 1979

About Joe

My photo
Chapel Hill, N.C., United States
Joe Herzenberg was born June 25, 1941, to Morris & Marjorie Herzenberg. His father owned the town pharmacy in Franklin, N.J., where Joe grew up. After he graduated from Yale University in 1964, Joe went to Mississippi to register voters for Freedom Summer. He joined the faculty of historically black Tougaloo College, where he was appointed chair of the history department. Joe arrived in Chapel Hill in 1969 to enroll as a graduate student in history at the University of North Carolina, and, along with his partner Lightning Brown, soon immersed himself in local, state, and national politics. Although Joe’s first campaign for the Chapel Hill Town Council in 1979 was unsuccessful, he was appointed to the Council to fill a vacant seat and served until 1981. In 1987, he was elected to the Council, becoming the former Confederacy's first openly gay elected official. Joe died surrounded by friends on October 28, 2007. He was 66 years old.

Friday, July 25, 1997

ACLU seeks nominations for Jones Award

Chapel Hill Herald, July 25, 1997

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is seeking nominations for our 1997 Charles and Dorcas Jones Award.

The award, initiated in 1993, recognizes a person who has made outstanding contributions to the cause of civil liberty in Orange and Chatham counties, the area served by the local ACLU chapter.

Previous recipients of the Jones Award include Joe and Lucy Straley, 1993; Rebecca Clark, 1994; Robert Seymour, 1995; and Dan Pollitt, 1996.

The deadline for submitting nominations is Aug. 5. To make a nomination for this year's award, call 929-4053 or drop a note to ACLU, P.O. Box 1285, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

Joe Herzenberg
Chapel Hill

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