African American Students

From Special Collections Research Center Wiki

For information about administrators, courses, alumni, etc. see African Americans at the College of William and Mary.

Contents 1 Students 1.1 Hulon Willis 1.2 Edward Augustus Travis 1.3 1955 1.4 Oscar Houser Blayton 1.5 First Residential Students 1.6 1969 1.7 1970s 1.8 1980s 1.9 1990s 2 Material in the Special Collections Research Center 3 References 4 External Links 5 Need help?

Students

Hulon Willis

The first African American student to be accepted at the College of William and Mary was Hulon Willis, on March 22, 1951. A graduate of Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) and a teacher in the Norfolk, Virginia, school system, Willis enrolled in the summer graduate program in education at the College of William and Mary starting in summer 1951.[1] He continued to attend summer sessions, and graduated with a master’s degree in education, specializing in physical education, in August 1956.

Edward Augustus Travis

The second African American student to be accepted, but the first to receive a degree from the College of William and Mary, was Edward Augustus Travis. A graduate of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College, Travis was admitted on August 31, 1951, to study law at William and Mary. He received a Bachelor of Civil Law degree on August 13, 1954.

1955

An African-American woman with a Bachelor of Science in Education from Temple University was admitted on September 20, 1955, but withdrew at end of that academic year.

Oscar Houser Blayton

The first African American undergraduate student, Oscar Houser Blayton, enrolled in 1963 and attended William and Mary for his freshman and sophomore years.

First Residential Students

The first female African American students, also the first black residential students, were Karen Ely, Lynn Briley, Janet Brown, who arrived as freshmen in fall 1967. At that time, there were three black male undergraduate students, all part-time, and one black male graduate student, who all lived off campus. All three women graduated from the College of William and Mary. (FH, 10/20/1967, p 16)

1969

In 1969, six African-American students entered the College for the fall term. Viola Osborne Baskerville, class of 1973, recalled that there were only "about 12 undergraduate African-American students and three or four graduate students on campus." [2]

1970s

African American students at the College formed the Black Student Organization in 1970. Warren W. Buck was the first president. [3] No official statistics recorded the number of black students at that time, but the president of the college told the Board of Visitors in May 1970 that there were about 40 black students.

Fall 1970-Department of Health, Education and Welfare insist that the College make a more concentrated effort at recruitment. The College refused to do so if it meant lowering admission standards.

1970-Hampton Institute Exchange Program approved to help the College maintain state funding.

January 1971-Hampton Institute Exchange Program dissolves due to lack of funding and student interest.

May 1975-Kappi Pi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. chartered. (Later references in The Flat Hat 2/19/1993, p. 19 and 12/5/1997, p. 6)

February 1976- Mu Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. chartered.

1976-103 African American students attended the College (2.2%)

Dr. Brian Blount, class of 1978, was the first African-American member of Phi Beta Kappa.[4]

1980s

In 1980, 38 African-American freshmen had enrolled at William and Mary for the fall semester, down from 54 the previous fall. A total of 145 African-American students were on campus at that time.[5]

May 1981-Nu Chi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. chartered.

1982-162 African American students attended the College (3.4%)

1983-153 African American students attended the College

1985-195 African American students attended the College (4%)

1988-303 African American students attended the College (5.8%)

October 1988-First African American homecoming queen, Charlene Renee Jackson, class of 1988, elected.

1990s

April 1992-Xi Lambda chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. chartered

January 1992-Xi Theta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. chartered

By 1992 the number of African Americans enrolled at the College "had risen to 527, or 6.8 percent of the 7,766 total undergraduate and graduate student body. The number of enrolled African-American students remained over 500 for five consecutive years."[6]

Material in the Special Collections Research Center

• The Flat Hat student newspaper; search the index available in the SCRC by person's name, student group name, event, or topical heading
• Colonial Echo yearbook
• Stony the Road We Trod Project, Oral history interviews by Jenay Jackson, 2005.
• Office of the President, Alvin Duke Chandler Records, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
• Office of the President, Davis Y. Paschall Records, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
• Office of the President, Thomas A. Graves Records, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
• Office of the President, Paul R. Verkuil Records, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
• SCRC Collections Database: search by names, organization, subject, event, etc.
• Search the William and Mary digital repository for additional material.
• To search for further material, see Finding Materials in the SCRC for an introduction to the SCRC Collections Database, card catalogs, Flat Hat-William & Mary News-Alumni Gazette index, etc.

References