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50 years later, a look back
Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the first day black undergraduates attended classes at UNC and in the Southeast.
BY JULIA FURLONG
ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR
n the fall of 1950, then-Student Body President John
Sanders stood in front of an all-white crowd at UNC’s
annual fall convocation and predicted a monumental
change was en route.
“I remember saying, ‘lt is probable that in the course of
your stay here we will have black students in the student
body,’” says Sanders, former director of the Institute of
Government. ‘“And they will be accepted without differen
tiation.’”
While Sanders’ prediction wasn't exactly on the mark,
his prophecy came true exactly fifty
years ago Saturday.
On Sept. 17, 1955, Leroy
Frasier, Ralph Frasier and John
Lewis Brandon all graduates of
Durham’s all-black Hillside High
School— attended their first class
es at UNC. Thus the three became
the first black undergraduates to
be admitted in the University’s
166-year history.
The date simultaneously marked
the first time ever that blacks were
accepted as undergraduate stu
dents at any state university in the
9K| m HHi
COURTESY OF THE MANUSCRIPTS DEPARTMENT, WILSON LIBRARY
Ralph Frasier (left), his brother Leroy (right) and John T. Brandon sit on the steps of the Old Well in 1955. The
trio, all from Durham, were the first black undergraduates to attend the University, or any Southeastern college.
Desegregation at UNC
1789 1896 1938 June 5,1950 1955
UNC founded. The U.S. Supreme Court, through Plessy v. The U.S. Supreme Court's 1938 decision in Sweatt v. Painter holds that the legal .education at Based on the Brown v. Board of Education
Ferguson, declared separate but equal Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada orders the a state law school for blacks provided by Texas to extension to higher education, UNC admits
accommodations for whites and blacks - admission of Lloyd Gaines, a black applicant, to Heman Marion Sweatt was not "substantially three black male students, becoming the first
a decision overturned in 1955. the University of Missouri Law School. equal to that which he would receive if admitted state university in the Southeast to break the
to the University of Texas Law School." color line for undergraduates.
1® 77 1833 1939 1951 September 1964
State Colored Normal School at A black applicant, Thomas Hocutt, was denied Law school established at North Carolina Based on the precedent set by Sweatt, Chancellor Paul Sharp announces that
Fayetteville founded. admission to the graduate pharmacy program College for Negroes at Durham in an McKissick v. Carmichael allows five men the University would hereafter assign
at UNC. He sued, claiming that his rejection j attempt to avoid the admission of blacks to become the first blacks to attend the [ students to their rooms without regard to
was based on his race. to the UNC School of Law. UNC law school. race or color.
1789 1850 1930 1950 1960
SOURCE: ROBERT P. JpYCE, CHARLES E. DAYE, THE NEW YORK TIMES DTH/BOBBY SWEATT
Campus still sees room for improvement
‘Progress made, but more can be done’
BYALI GRAY
STAFF WRITER
Walking through the Pit, anyone
can see that there is a variety of eth
nicities represented on campus.
But just how integrated these
students actually are is another
issue entirely.
Fifty years ago, the first three
black undergraduates enrolled at
UNC. Since then, the number of
nonwhite students has increased
to about 25 percent.
Last year, the Chancellor’s Task
Force on Diversity conducted
extensive studies on integration
and diversity. They concluded
that the University has made large
strides since the 19505, but more
can be done.
One of the results from the task
force’s findings was the creation of
the associate provost for diversity
and multicultural affairs position,
now held by Archie Ervin.
Ervin will lead the University’s
commitment to diversity and inte
gration in the future.
“I think what you find on our
campus is an openness to differ
ences with cross-races,” Ervin says.
Southeast.
Life On Campus
Brandon says the culture in
Chapel Hill was different from
other places at that time.
“We didn’t have that large a
problem in Chapel Hill,” he says.
“In my classes, I never had nega
tive-type behaviors shown at me.”
The significant thing about
what happened here, Sanders says,
is what didn’t happen.
“The campus placidly accepted
As more minorities joined the
campus environment, the scope of
diversity evolved.
Virginia Carson, director of
Campus Y, attended UNC from 1967
to 1971. Her continued connection
with the University has allowed her
to observe integration progress.
When Carson was a student, the
number of black students was still
fairly small, she says. That number
has increased since 1971.
“The change is significant,” she
says. “That has certainly made a
difference, all for the better.”
Carson says that although she
is not aware of relationships and
feelings among the current student
population, she has noticed areas
where diversity is lacking.
“I wish there were more faculty
and senior staff people of color,” she
says. “I think that’s a real issue.”
Junior Aaron Charlop-Powers,
co-chairman of Students for the
Advancement of Race Relations,
says the University has a long way to
come with the battle of integration.
Walking on campus, Charlop-
Powers says he notices that many
students associate with students of
News
change,” he says.
Leaders in the state were ada
mant that conditions weren’t
changed, says Charles E. Daye, who
became the first black to join the
faculty of UNC’s School of Law.
But he says, “Students were ahead
of the social curve of the time.”
Brandon says that even though
protest never erupted against their
presence, many people still didn’t
understand why they were at UNC.
“Some people thought the main
reason we wanted to go there was
because of the females,” Brandon
says. “In a sense, it wasn’t expressed
that much but there was a rumor
that went around.”
On March 4,1956, The Daily Tar
Heel reported that two psychology
students found in a poll that the
student body “slightly favors” inte
gration.
Sanders says that with students
in the 19505, there was a more
mature recognition that change
had come, welcome or not.
“That doesn't mean everybody
accepted the change,” he says. “But
it made very little difference in the
lives of most students.”
All three men commuted 20 to
similar backgrounds.
“Who hangs out with whom is
telling, in my eyes,” he says.
In an effort to raise awareness
of diversity issues, Charlop-Powers
and his co-chairman, senior Clayton
Perry, are organizing the annual
Race Relations Week in October.
As far as the progress in integra
tion, Charlop-Powers says he finds
it difficult to evaluate.
“I think we
like to say we’re
integrated and
diverse,” he says.
“These words
are a very easy
cop-out to help
us sleep well at
night. It’s very
much a myth.”
Carson says
the University
‘7 definitely feel
we’ve made a lot
of progress, and
those first students
would he proud.”
BRANDON HODGES, BSM PRESIDENT
needs to face the facts head-on.
“I don’t think a real community
is built on false impressions,” she
says. “There are issues we need to
deal with both in the past and pres
ent to be the kind of community we
need to be.”
Perry says institutions such as the
Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black
Culture and History have helped fos
ter dialogue on race issues.
30 minutes to and from campus
their first semester, Brandon says.
The spring semester of his fresh
man year, Brandon opted to live in
a special section of Steele building
which then served as a residence
hall that University officials set
aside for him and seven other black
graduate students.
“I was in room 34 I think,” he
says. “I had a medical student as a
roommate, (James) Slade.”
“Partly as a result of (Chancellor
Robert B. House’s) decision, separate
arrangements were made to try to
reduce conflict,” Sanders says.
House was known for his con
servative stance on integration.
Although dormitories were seg
regated and remained that way until
Sept. 1964, Brandon and the Frasier
brothers ate at the same cafeteria as
white students without incident.
“The integration of campus facili
ties came somewhat ahead of other
communities at large,” Sanders says.
“In 1950, there was no place I could
have taken a black guest for dinner
in 1960, for that matter.”
None of the first black under
graduates were able to catch
a movie in Chapel Hill or gain
entrance to local landmarks such
as the Carolina Inn.
Brandon says he remembers
going to a snack bar, but he could
most often be found in class or in
his room while on campus.
“Most of the black activities
“The integration of
campus facilities
came somewhat
ahead of other com
munties at large.”
JOHN SANDERS, then-sbp
occurred closer to Carrboro,” he says,
which was where he got his hair cut
and helped wash cars at a service
station to make some money.
“I wasn’t too social,” he says. “But
I’ve been that way most of my life.”
The Frasier brothers joined the
University swim team but later
dropped out.
“They were just like anybody else,”
Coach Ralph Casey told the Durham
Morning Herald on Feb. 9,1956.
“Maybe a little quieter than normal.
They worked hard. They were a curi
osity at first but that wore off”
“The presence of the Stone
Center allows people to view social
and cultural issues from a previ
ously unrepresented perspective.”
Brandon Hodges, president of the
Black Student Movement, said the
organization will strive to end ste
reotypes and cement integration.
“I definitely feel we’ve made a lot
of progress, and those first students
would be proud,” he says about the
first black UNC
undergraduates.
“But we need to
do more.”
Hodges, a
business major,
says he has
observed few
black students
in the Kenan-
Flagler Business
School or in the
School of Public Health.
The University needs to focus on
specific areas to foster diversity, he
says. “We need increased efforts for
minorities in these fields.”
Sophomore Stephanie Chen, a
Chinese-American, doesn’t think it’s
a problem that she is a member of a
vastly white campus organization.
“I don’t really see myself as dif
ferent,” says Chen, a member of a
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2005
1 S|3p|
COURTESY OF THE MANUSCRIPTS DEPARTMENT, WILSON LIBRARY
Former professor W. Roberts Mann congratulates Leroy Frasier, his brother
Ralph (right) and John T. Brandon on completing math placement tests.
The boys hadn’t learned prop
er study skills at Hillside High,
Brandon says.
“We dropped out of school after
our third year,” says Brandon, who
didn’t earn the necessary C average
after six semesters to pursue his
chemistry major. “We didn’t com
mit ourselves like we should have.”
Brandon later earned a mas
ter’s degree in chemistry from
the University of Houston-Clear
Lake.
The Impact of Brown
Black students had been
enrolled in graduate programs
in UNC since 1951, when five
men transferred from the North
Carolina College in Durham to
UNC’s law school.
Daye says he doesn’t think the
undergraduate school could have
been integrated before Brown v.
Board of Education, in 1954, which
struck down the “separate but equal”
mandate of Plessy v. Ferguson.
“You had to prove that the edu
cation was unequal, which was far
more difficult to do for an entire
university itself rather than just a
law school,” he says.
A lawsuit for undergraduate
admissions taking place under
the “separate but equal” doctrine
would have been too complex to
win, he says.
Students would have to sue,
claiming their education was inad
equate for every specific course, he
Ip.'.:, .
DTH FILE PHOTO
Michelle Greene, a UNC alumna, leads a procession in 2004 at the
opening of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.
Panhellenic sorority. “They’re just
my friends. People don’t treat me
differently. There’s no reason to
stereotype a group.” .
She says she is pleased with the
status of diversity on campus.
“You always see different races
and you can see the organizations
that have formed on campus for
people interested in other cul
tures,” she says.
says. “We would still be litigating
today if it weren't for Brown.”
Student Leadership
“Student leadership and advo
cacy were important in this period,”
Sanders says. “Especially for instill
ing the temper of the campus.”
Ralph Frasier told The Daily
Tar Heel in 2003 that report
ers from the student newspaper’s
staff approached his high school
for black applicants.
“This whole effort was initi
ated by students at (UNC) who,
following the Brown decision in
1954, believed that (UNC) should
be on the front edge and took the
initiative to see if the University
would voluntarily admit African-
Americans,” Frasier had said.
Other groups, such as student
government and the YMCA, sent
the new students letters of con
gratulation and offered to show
them around campus.
“Student leaders were more
aware of racial issues, more con
cerned with treating blacks just
ly,” Sanders says, adding that he
engagement of such leaders was
crucial in,acclimating the new
black undergraduates.
“Vocal students such as those in
student government and The Daily
Tar Heel had established a pattern of
acceptance and not of resistance.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
Opinions on the current level of
integration vary, but the University
plans to pursue goals toward
increased diversity, Ervin says.
“The more that we discover and
become aware of differences that
we have as unique individuals, the
better off we are.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
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