St. Paul recorder., 1963-03-14

campus home of Mr.. and MrB.
Lionel James, LSU's first known
Negro students in the graduate
school Of music.
Virginia
Miss Jean L. Harris Of Rich
mond, first Negro to attend the
University Of Virginia medical col
lege, September, 1851; Henderson
Andrew Johnson, III, and Miss
Marjorie Louise Vaughan, first ac-
cepted in the school of physical
medicine 1851. Negroes had at
tended the medical college Of st.
Philip hospital training department
since 1920.
Gregory H. Swanson, in Septem-
ber, 1850, became the first to enter
the university's law school
Texas
After legal battles started in
February, 1916, Heman Marion
Sweat, a Houston mail carrier, in
1850 was admitted to the law
school at the University of Texas.
The us. Supreme Court ordered
the university to admit him or pro-
vide separate but equal" facilit-
les for him. Failing grades later
forced Sweat to quit school. He
returned to his job as postman-
However, George L. Allen, an
Xavier university graduate New
Orleans), was admitted to the
University of Texas aduate
school in the fall of 1888 as a reg
ular student. Then a district man
ager of Excelsior Life insurance
company, he studied business psy-
chology and salesmanship.
Florida
The Supreme Court ordered the
University of Florida at Gaines
vile to admit Virgil Hawkins of
Daytona Beach in April, 1866,
after nearly seven years of legal
fighting. The high court ruled that
Hawkins be admitted on grounds
that there are no reasons to de-
lay" integration, calling attention
to its 1854 school desegregahon
ruling.
Others who joined Hawkins In
the fight were Miss Rose Boyd,
school of pharmacy; Oliver Maxey,
graduate school of engineering,
and Benjamin Finley, graduate
school of agriculture.
Alabama
Autherine J. Lucy, now Mrs.
Hugh L. Foster Of Houston, Texas,
became the first Negro to attend
the University of Alabama in the
spring of 1856. Her case went back
to Oct. 10, 1855, when a federal
court ruled that she and Mrs. Polly
Ann (Myers) Hudson be admitted
to the University.
Mrs. Foster, however, enrolled
but stayed in school only three
days. Her appearance in class was
followed by campus disturbances.
She was suspended from classes
on Feb. 6, for Safety reasons,
officials said, and was later ex-
PEELED from the university after she
was accused of charging that COL
lege officials conspired in riots
which greeted her appearance on
the Alabama campus.
No Negroes have attended Ala
bama since Mrs. Fosters expulsion.
However, DR.. Martin Luther King.
Jr., recently announced that the
s ou t h ern Christian Leadership
Conference, which he heads, will
launch a vigorous campaign" this
year to enroll Negro students in
The University of Alabama at Univ
ersity, Ala, and Auburn universi-
ty at Auburn, Ala.
Georgia
Charlayne Alberta Hunter and
Hamilton E. Holmes, on Jan. 10,
1861, became the first Negroes to
attend the all-white University Of
Georgia at Athens. They regis
,ered as students after Federal
District court orders had barred
he University from further dis
against Negro appH-
ants and enjoined Gov. s. Ernest
Vandiver, Jr., from cutting Off
'tate funds to the school.
Shortly after their enrolment,
he us. Supreme Court unani-
nously denied an appeal by Geor-
sia officials for a stay in integra-
ion pending appeal. After hund-
eds Of rioting students laid siege
m the dormitory in which Miss
Hunter lived, the university sus-
'ended both Negro students Jan.
2, 1851, for their personal safe
VIZ