Plaudits for a protester.

• Position: NC TREND: Western Region

On Feb. 19, current and former trustees, students and local leaders gathered on the UNC Asheville campus to celebrate the rechristening of New Hall. "Our students believed our buildings' names were missing diversity/' says Chancellor Mary Grant. "At the same time, our board of trustees was discussing how we should recognize people who have contributed to the university." When combined, those two factors produced an obvious namesake for the academic building: Alfred Whitesides Jr. "A1 serves as a connector between the city and the university," Grant says. "He's just a very special guy."

Whitesides, who grew up in the city during the 1950s, recalls a time when African-Americans weren't so celebrated. At segregated Stephens-Lee High School, he joined the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality, and while attending historically black North Carolina Central University in Durham, Whitesides was arrested multiple times for participating in sit-ins. "My grandfather pushed my brother and I," he says. "He told us we wouldn't have to go through what he went through."

After a stint in the Navy, Whitesides became the first African-American to enter the Asheville management-training program for First Union, where his father worked as a janitor. On his first day at the bank, in 1971, Whitesides' new boss ushered him to a meeting of the Asheville Jaycees. "First...