Herzenberg, Joseph A., 1941-

Joe Herzenberg (Joseph Alexander Herzenberg II) was born in 1941 in Franklin, N.J. He moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1969. Herzenberg was a politician; historian; advocate for social, environmental, and economic justice; and the first openly gay elected official in North Carolina. He died in October 2007 in Chapel Hill.

From the description of Joseph A. Herzenberg papers 1883-2006. WorldCat record id: 214103036

Joe Herzenberg (Joseph Alexander Herzenberg II) was born 25 June 1941 in Franklin, N.J., to Marjorie and Morris Herzenberg. He was a politician; a historian; an advocate for social, environmental, and economic justice; and the first openly gay elected official in North Carolina. Herzenberg attended Yale University, receiving his B.A. in 1963 and M.A. in European history in 1965. One of his first major involvements with politics was working as a Freedom Summer volunteer in 1964 in Mississippi. He was briefly jailed as a civil rights protester that same year. From 1965 to 1967, Herzenberg worked as assistant professor and chair of the History Department at Tougaloo College, a historically African American school in Jackson, Miss., and a hotbed of civil rights activism in the 1960s. At Tougaloo, he met and was briefly married to an African-American woman at a time when interracial marriages were illegal.

Herzenberg moved to North Carolina in 1969 to enroll as a graduate student in history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he wrote his dissertation on the career of local civil rights leader Frank Porter Graham. He first ran as a Democrat for Chapel Hill Town Council in 1979, but was narrowly defeated. Soon after, he was appointed to the Town Council to replace Gerry Cohen, who had stepped down mid-term. Herzenberg lost the reelection bid in 1981 and lost the election once again in 1983. In 1987, Herzenberg was elected to Chapel Hill Town Council, becoming the first openly gay elected official in North Carolina. He was re-elected by a wide margin in 1991, receiving an unprecedented vote total for Chapel Hill town council race. He remained in office until 1993. During his time in office, Herzenberg was a great proponent of civil rights, social justice, and environmental protection. Even after stepping down, Herzenberg remained involved in local politics and served on various town advisory boards, such as the Chapel Hill Greenways Commission. Herzenberg was a founding member of Pride PAC (later called Equality N.C. PAC), a state-wide advocacy organization working for equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender North Carolinians. He played a great part in the enactment of Chapel Hill's tree protection ordinance, the creation of the Chapel Hill Greenways, and the preservation of the Chapel Hill downtown historic district. Herzenberg received the first Citizen's Award from the Independent Newsweekly in 1984. He died at the age of 66 on 28 October 2007 in Chapel Hill from complications of diabetes.

Adapted for the most part from Orange Politics blog: http://orangepolitics.org/2007/10/well-miss-you-joe/ (Date accessed: 30 January 2008)

From the guide to the Joseph A. Herzenberg Papers,  , 1883-2006, (bulk 1840s-2006), (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)