1840
The population of Fayetteville: 425 persons; 292 white; 123 black.
Of those, 120 are slaves and three are free.
1862
The Morrill Act of 1862 sets the stage for publicly supported higher
education in Arkansas and across the nation.
1871
Joseph Carter Corbin becomes the first black president ex-officio
of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, the same year the
University of Arkansas is founded. The issue of admitting Negroes
arose even before the founding of the University, which is declared
to be open to all races. Corbin later became the president of AM&N
(present-day University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).
1872
James McGahee becomes the first black student to attend the University
of Arkansas when it opens in 1872. McGahee’s attendance is
suspected by scholars for decades, but he is not identified for
more than a century until a graduate student discovers the information
in a clipping. An April 28, 2006, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper
article breaks the news of this discovery. McGahee is listed by
surname only in the 1872 student roster.
Other early black students may have been James Jones, Henry Howard
Sutton, and A.B. Crumpt, who is said to have been taught by University
President Noah Gates.
1873
Executive committee of the Board of Trustees University of Arkansas
declares the institution “open to all without regard to race,
sex or sect.”
1919
A deadly 1919 race riot in the town of Elaine in Phillips County,
Arkansas, gains national attention and spurs a major U.S. Supreme
Court Ruling, Moore v. Dempsey, which found that the defendants’
trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth
Amendment and reversed the district court’s decision.
1927
Black teachers enroll in correspondence courses taught by the University
of Arkansas. By the second year, 2,000 teachers have enrolled.
1928
The Cooperative Extension Service, a sister unit of the University
of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, offers “practical
demonstration” courses, terracing and poultry house construction,
to blacks.
Late 1920s
David Y. Thomas, a University of Arkansas political science professor,
speaks out against the generally accepted version of the Elaine
Race Riot. He did not agree that the blacks were plotting murder
against whites to take their property.
1930
University of Arkansas College of Education Dean J.R. Jewell teaches
extension classes to black teachers.
1934
Donald Murray becomes one of the first to challenge out-of-state
entry into law school.
1936-1937
Dr. Nolin M. Irby teaches graduate-level classes to blacks at AM&N.
1937-1938
The establishment of agricultural extension classes for permanent
university credit brings the University of Arkansas a step nearer
to integration.
1941
Scipio Africanus Jones, a leading lawyer in the state who had successfully
represented the Elaine 12, wrote to the University of Arkansas asking
if the state would pay the out-of-state tuition for Prentice A. Hilburn
to attend law school out of state at Howard University, since Arkansas
had no law school for blacks.
1942
Board of Trustees votes to join the action of a special committee
set up by the governor to provide a scholarship fund for African
American students to pursue professional education outside
the state.
1943
Arkansas Legislative Act 345 establishes state tuition fund to enable
black students to pursue graduate or professional training out of
state and sets a $312 per year maximum.
1946
Citing the need to address the demand for legal training for African
Americans and his personal desire not to aggravate race relations
in Arkansas, Robert A. Leflar promotes entrance of black students
into the University of Arkansas School of Law. Eventually, classes
would become integrated opening all university facilities to all
students.
1948
Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, a classmate of Silas Hunt at AM&N, battles
the University of Oklahoma in federal court upon being denied admission
to law school. Her experience inspires Silas Hunt.
Edith May Irby becomes the first African American to be admitted
into medical school at University of Arkansas School of Medicine
in Little Rock.
January 30, 1948
University of Arkansas President Lewis W. Jones allows African American
Clifford Davis entry into the University of Arkansas. He is accepted,
but does not attend.
Arkansas Gazette publishes a story stating that Wiley A. Branton
of Pine Bluff would seek admission into the University of Arkansas
the following Monday, Feb. 2, 1948. It is reported that if
weather conditions prohibited Branton from getting to Fayetteville,
then Silas Hunt would be there in his place. Branton had received
letters from white UA students offering to collect donations
to provide board for any Negro student who might enroll. Branton
enrolled in law school the following year.
February 2, 1948
Silas Hunt enrolls as the first African American student at the
University of Arkansas School of Law in modern times. Initially,
he is required to study in a special room, in classes in which he
is the only student.
1949
Jackie Lamont Shropshire enters UA law school. Other enrollees –
who would become known as the “Six Pioneers” –
include Silas Hunt; George Haley, who went on to become U.S. Ambassador
to Gambia; Chris Mercer, who became a Little Rock attorney; and
Wiley Branton, who served as dean of the Howard University Law School.
The sixth pioneer is George Howard Jr., who became U.S. District
Judge, Eastern District of Arkansas.
1948-1950
The University of Arkansas offers graduate work for blacks in Pine
Bluff. The first graduate degrees awarded to blacks by the University
of Arkansas are earned and presented there.
Jan. 23, 1949
Wilkie Memorial of Freedom House presents a citation gratefully
“acknowledging an outstanding contribution to the civil rights
of the American People” to the University of Arkansas at a
ceremony in Carnegie Hall.
Late 1940s
Along with six other state-supported colleges, the University of
Arkansas establishes graduate centers open to blacks at various
locations around the state. This provides students integrated access
to education programs in most areas of Arkansas.
1950
All classes at the graduate center are opened to members of both
races on a completely desegregated basis.
1951
Jackie Shropshire graduates from law school, becoming the first
African American to graduate from the University of Arkansas.
Arkansas Committee on Higher Education recommends to the governor
that a school for Negro practical nurses be established at Pine
Bluff or that the University of Arkansas open its nursing program
to Negroes.
The University of Arkansas is recognized with the Chicago Defender
Award for accepting Negroes in graduate schools without legal compulsion.
1951
The University of Arkansas invites other in-state-supported colleges
to establish graduate centers in their respective institutions.
1952
George Howard is elected president of Lloyd Hall, making him the
first black man or woman to be elected president of any student
organization at the University of Arkansas.
George W. Haley becomes the second black student to graduate from
the University of Arkansas Law School.
Edith May Irby Jones receives the doctor of medicine degree from
the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, becoming its first
black graduate.
1954
Fifteen African Americans are enrolled at the University
of Arkansas, eight of whom live in Lloyd Hall.
The landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling holds that racial
segregation in public education is unconstitutional.
1955
Helen Maxine Sutton, Billie Rose Whitfield, and Marjorie Wilkins
enroll as nursing students.
Fayetteville Public Schools becomes the first public school system
in Arkansas to integrate.
1956
Gordon Morgan, who goes on to become one of the first black faculty
members at the U of A, earns his master’s degree from the
University of Arkansas.
April 1957
The Founder’s Day Celebration program at AM&N is dedicated
to Silas Hunt, an AM&N graduate.
1957
Gov. Orval Faubus uses the Arkansas National Guard to prevent
integration at Little Rock’s Central High School. United States
paratroopers are dispatched by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to
the Central High School campus in order to enforce desegregation.
1958
Benjamin Franklin Lever enrolls as the first African American graduate
student in residence on campus.
1963
Robert Whitfield and another civil rights activist student file
discrimination lawsuits against campus housing. Federal ruling
forces UA housing to be open to all without regard to race and
students. As a result, graduate student Roberta Whitfield (Robert
Whitfield's sister), applies for residence in the newly integrated
Fulbright Hall in the summer of 1965 and goes on to receive a master's
degree.
1964
Following the previous year’s federal district ruling, Joanna
Edwards and Robert Whitfield are the first two blacks at the University
of Arkansas to be admitted to previously segregated dormitories.
1965
Four black UA students visit the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion
during Orval Faubus’ last term as governor.
1968
Black students rally at Hill Hall, the office of the Arkansas Traveler,
to protest negative stereotypes published in the student newspaper.
1968
Black Americans for Democracy (BAD) – with the objective of
raising the number of black students enrolled at the U of A –
forms and engages approximately 60 black students as members. James
Seawood is the group’s first president.
Black and white students seize the journalism building and hold
demonstration in response to the Arkansas Traveler’s decision
not to publish a letter rebutting an earlier letter criticizing
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
First black couple, George and Sharon Miller, receive law degrees
from UA.
1969
Gordon D. Morgan and Margaret Clark become the first black University
of Arkansas faculty members. The black studies program begins and
offers courses in black history and culture.
Nigerian Hillary Nwokeji enrolls as the University’s first
African student.
Marion Anthony Wright organizes BAD Choir, which eventually becomes
the Inspirational Singers.
Muhammad Ali speaks to students at Symposium ’69. Black Americans
for Democracy holds first “Black Emphasis Week” celebrating
black art, history, literature, and music in an effort to share
black perspectives with students of all races.
Following a week of widespread protest against the marching band’s
playing of “Dixie” at games and pep rallies, Darrell
Brown, a black student, is shot in the leg by an unknown sniper
on campus after a pep rally. After the shooting, the student senate
votes to recommend the discontinuation of the song, and the band
director decides to quit playing “Dixie” altogether.
The law school dean offers a public reward leading to the arrest
and conviction of the person responsible for the shooting.
Students reenact Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I
Have a Dream” speech on campus.
Elaine McNeil becomes the first director of the UA Black Studies
Committee.
Almer Lee becomes the first UA African American varsity scholarship
basketball player.
Governor Winthrop Rockefeller opens doors of opportunity to African
Americans in state government through appointments to a number of
agencies and positions and by integrating local draft boards and
the state police.
1960’s
Noted rhythm and blues artists such as James Brown, Otis Redding,
and Booker T. and the M.G.’s perform on campus, as does jazz
legend Duke Ellington.
1970
Joe Tave is named the first Dean of Black Students.
Dick Gregory speaks at Symposium ’70.
Black Emphasis Week features Willie Wine Watson, and the campuswide
celebration Gaebale brings the Four Tops to campus.
The second floor of Memorial Hall temporarily becomes a gathering
place for students to listen to music and read books focusing on
African American culture.
1972
Willie Freeman becomes the first black to join a fraternity by pledging
Tau Kappa Epsilon.
Gene McKissic becomes the first African American president of the
student body.
1975
Ghana native Pobbi Asmani becomes the first African professor at
the University of Arkansas.
1977
President Bishop establishes President’s Faculty Advisory
Committee on Minority Concerns.
Football player Leotis Harris becomes the first Razorback All-American
athlete.
1978
Joy Dillard and Deborah Cooper become the first female African American
varsity athletes.
Mid 1970s
E. Lynn Harris earns the double distinction of becoming the one
of the first black male cheerleaders and the first black editor
of the Razorback yearbook.
1979
BAD changes its name to STAND, Students Taking a New Dimension.
Track athlete Diann Ousley becomes first Lady ’Back All-American.
1980
STAND seeks to obtain representation in ASG, the Associated Student
Government.
1982
U of A hires Delores Bookins as dean of black students. She establishes
several award programs to recognize the achievements of black students,
faculty, and staff.
Miss Black University of Arkansas contest held.
1982
The Ira Aldridge Players, a student drama group organized to encourage
minority participation in UA theater, perform “Purlie Victorious,”
a play by Ossie Davis.
1984
Daisy Bates, adviser and protector of the Little Rock Nine, receives
an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Arkansas.
1985
Vivian Slaughter elected Miss Ebony, during a UA pageant.
Nolan Richardson becomes first black basketball coach of the Arkansas
Razorbacks and the first black basketball coach in the Southwest
Conference.
1988
The University of Arkansas holds a celebration commemorating the
40th anniversary of Silas Hunt’s enrollment.
1990
Roderick McDavis is named dean of the School of Education, making
him the first African American academic dean at the University of
Arkansas.
Black alumni begin holding reunions on campus.
1993
Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, a classmate of Silas Hunt credited as his
inspiration for seeking entrance at the UA School of Law, speaks
at the opening and dedication of Silas Hunt Hall on the UA campus.
1994
Led by head coach Nolan Richardson, the men’s Razorback basketball
team wins the NCAA national championship, defeating Duke in the
title game 76-72.
U of A establishes the Multicultural Center to enhance the academic
experience and prepare students for life in a diverse society through
educational, cultural and social programs.
1995
Janis Kearney is appointed as President Bill Clinton’s personal
presidential diarist – the first time in history a president
had made such an appointment.
1997
Enhancing relationships with historically black colleges and universities,
the University of Arkansas establishes the George Washington Carver
Project to increase the racial diversity of UA graduate students.
Rodney Slater is named U.S. Secretary of Transportation by President
Bill Clinton.
April 18, 1998
African Americans commemorate 50 years at the University of Arkansas
during a celebration held on campus.
1998
UA Black Alumni Society established. Wendell Griffin is the first
president of the BAS.
August 1998
The University of Arkansas welcomes the most racially and ethnically
diverse freshman class in the institution’s history; African
American student population increases by 22.3 percent.
1999
Johnetta Cross Brazzell is hired as vice chancellor for Student
Affairs, making her the first black vice chancellor at the University
of Arkansas.
Lisa Williams becomes the first black member of the faculty appointed
to an endowed chair position when she is named to the Oren Harris
Chair of Logistics in the Sam M. Walton College of Business.
2000
Eddie Armstrong Scholarship program founded to expand opportunities
and improve post secondary education experiences for minority students
from single parent households attending the University of Arkansas.
Derrick Gragg is appointed senior associate athletic director.
2001
University of Arkansas installs historical markers outside Hunt
Hall commemorating Silas Hunt’s entrance to the institution
and the entrance of the Six Pioneers.
Carolyn Henderson Allen is appointed dean of University Libraries.
Arlene Cash is appointed dean of enrollment services.
Brian O. Hemphill is appointed dean of students.
February 22, 2002
The Black Law Students Association Celebration honors the Six Pioneers
and dedicates a classroom in their honor. Special guests include
professor and poet Miller Williams; photographer Geleve Grice, a
friend of Silas Hunt’s who photographed his entrance into
the U of A; and Christopher Mercer, one of the original Six Pioneers.
2002
Glenn B. Anderson, director of training for the Rehabilitation Research
and Training Center for Persons Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
in Little Rock, a program of the College of Education and Health
Professions, is appointed to the National Council on Disability
by President Bush (the most prestigious appointment in the rehab
field) and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
2003
Stan Heath is named head basketball coach.
October 2003
The University of Arkansas establishes the competitive Silas Hunt
Distinguished Scholarship program to promote diversity.
2005
The University of Arkansas Center for Continuing Education begins
production of a documentary chronicling the life of Silas Hunt.
2006
The Division of Student Affairs and the Black History Month Committee
co-host “Friday Night Live: Soul Night” at the University
of Arkansas Union to celebrate African American culture.
April 28, 2006
The University of Arkansas holds the first Silas Hunt Legacy Award
celebration.
July 1, 2006
Cynthia Nance is appointed dean of the Law School.
Every effort has been made to provide historically accurate
information. If you have historical images, memorabilia, information
or stories to contribute to this ongoing history for future publications,
please contact the Office of University Relations at urelinfo@uark.edu
or (479) 575-5555.
