Education
Milestones in UGA history for Black students, faculty
Eight people who rang the Chapel Bell (from left) Autumn Pressley, Yvette Daniels, Ericka Davis, Jeff Brown, Shontel Cargill, Ken Dious, Horace King and Hamilton Holmes Jr. pose for a group photograph outside the Holmes-Hunter Academic Building on the campus in Athens on Saturday, January 9, 2021. On January 9, 1961, two courageous students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, took heroic steps on the University of GeorgiaÕs campus to enroll as students followed by Mary Frances Early, who entered graduate school that summer. Their legacies continue as they have contributed a lifetime of public service to their communities. Because of these students, the university now boasts a diverse campus made of numerous nationalities, races and ethnicities. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)
By Eric Stirgus
Jan 9, 2021Here are some milestones for Black students and faculty at the University of Georgia:
- 1961: Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter become the first African Americans to register at UGA.
- 1962: Mary Frances Early becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Georgia. She enrolled in summer of 1961, a few months after Holmes and Hunter.
Though she rarely is mentioned in the history books, Mary Frances Early is actually the first black graduate of the University of Georgia, before Charlayne Hunter Gault and Hamilton Holmes. Now UGA is giving her an honorary degree to acknowledge this fact.PHIL SKINNER / PSKINNER@AJC.COM editor's note: CQ
- 1966: Shirley Mathis McBay becomes the first African American to earn a Ph.D.
- 1967: Harry Sims, a long jumper, becomes the first African American UGA student to participate in an athletics competition.
- 1968: Richard Graham becomes first full-time African American faculty member, teaching in the School of Music.
- 1969: Zeta Pi chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha becomes the first African American fraternity on campus and the Zeta Psi chapter of Delta Sigma Theta becomes the first African American sorority on campus.
- 1970: Ronnie Hogue, a basketball player, becomes the first African American to play a major sport.
- 1982: Herschel Walker is selected the Heisman Trophy winner, becoming the first African American UGA player to win college football’s most prestigious individual honor.
Georgia tailback Herschel Walker piled up yards for the Bulldogs (AJC file photo)
- 1993: Telvis Rich and Ron Jones become first African Americans elected president and vice president of the student body.
- 1994: Ivery Clifton becomes the first African American dean.
- 2001: UGA renames its academic building after Holmes and Hunter.
- 2020: UGA names its College of Education after Early.
- 2020: Phaidra Buchanan is the first African American UGA student to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar.
About the Author
Eric Stirgus joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. He is the newsroom's education editor. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Eric is active in the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the Education Writers Association and enjoys mentoring aspiring journalists.
