Beloved YMCA Instrumental To Civil Rights History Will Be Gone, But Memories Remain

A building in Greensboro will be razed next week, and it's one that leaves a powerful legacy. The Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA dates back to 1939, and played a significant role in the Gate City's history.

Industrialist Ceasar Cone made it possible through a $50 thousand donation, and it was named after his housekeeper and butler, Sally Hayes and Andrew Taylor.

The Hanes-Taylor Y was the first in Greensboro to allow membership of non-white citizens, serving segregated black residents during the Jim Crow era.

Recently, several patrons gathered there, dressed in their Sunday best, to remember the Y. Among them was Executive Director Emeritus Thomas J. Scott Sr. Beginning in 1972, he held the executive position there for nearly thirty years.

“The history of the black community is so interwoven with the Hayes-Taylor Y, you can't separate them,” says Scott. “You can't talk about the black community without talking about the Hayes-Taylor Y, A&T State University, Bennett College—all of the leadership in the community came together to support this Y, and they continue to this day.”

Looking back on his tenure, what impressed Scott most, besides decades of financial stability and welcoming people of all economic backgrounds, was the crucial role that volunteers played in developing the program.

He says, “I think the unique thing is that you couldn't tell sometimes the volunteers from the staff, because they would pitch in and do whatever was needed to put the program over.”

Volunteers like Enola Mixon – who first arrived at the Hayes-Taylor Y with her four sons in 1952. They attended summer school there and learned to swim. Mixon began volunteering, and, as roles for women expanded at the YMCA, eventually became director for one term.

She recalls the year 1960, when four North Carolina A&T students fought the segregation policies of the Woolworth department store in Greensboro through peaceful sit-ins at the “Whites-Only” lunch counter.

“Actually, I participated in the [Woolworths] sit-ins,” says Mixon. “We used to meet at the Y every Monday night to see what we could do to help the guys do the sit ins. We met with the city officials. There was a lot of negotiating behind the scenes that a lot of people didn't know about.”

Although she herself was discouraged by her husband and others from joining in the protest marches of the 60s, Mixon says she found it difficult to resist.

“Sometimes I would wear high heel shoes downtown so I wouldn't march, but when you got there you got invigorated, and you'd just be going, determined to see things changing,” says Mixon. “Two years ago, I was going into the Civil Rights Museum and I had a flashback—just as live as it did happen—and we were marching. We were on the right side of the street. The hecklers were in the middle. And the police were on the other side. And we were saying, ‘We shall overcome,' and they were saying, ‘Two, four, six, eight, we ain't going to integrate.”

T.O. Stokes Jr. arrived at North Carolina A&T as a student in 1948 from a small town in Ashe County. He knew the Greensboro Four and their families well. After working his way through school and operating a service station in Greensburg for 35 years, Stokes helped finance the 15-foot bronze and marble monument in their honor located on the western edge of the campus.

After graduating, Stokes operated a service station in Greensboro for 35 years. During the 1970s, early on in his retirement, he was tapped by Executive Director Thomas Scott to volunteer with the Hayes-Taylor YMCA. Stokes says it was an exciting time.

“[The YMCA] used to have three floors, and the third floor was a floor that we let celebrities like Joe Lewis, and Martin Luther King, Lou Hudson the basketball player, Jackie Robinson, Benjamin Mays, and various celebrities stay there when they came to Greensboro, because then we had segregation.”

Executive Director Larry Burnett oversaw the transition from the original Hayes Taylor Y building to its current 55,000 square foot home. He says from its inception, Hayes-Taylor was always a place where everyone was welcome, regardless of economic background.

“We get a lot of testimonies from families who are very appreciative for having a child to be able to come here and the afterschool program, or perhaps a summer camp program, where they will not be able to fund that program based on their own family income,” says Burnett.

He adds “We receive a lot of remarks from families thanking us for the ability to bring their child in here; put them in a safe environment; let them interact with other children, and let the family continue to grow.

"It gives many families the opportunity to look for full employment, and for others it gives them an opportunity to keep their current employment they have," says Burnett. "And we believe that it always starts with the child. If you can start with a family and a child and keep the child in a safe wholesome environment then you can make a difference in a family. That's something that was started a long time ago, and we want to continue that legacy.”

The Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA demolition is scheduled to take place on Monday. The old site will soon be home to NC A&T State University's Engineering Research and Innovation Complex. Construction is slated to begin early next year.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post contained a misspelling of the name T.O. Stokes Jr.