Story 2

The Queen of Campus

   When Charlayne Hunter-Gault was in the sixth grade, she won a school contest. Her prize was a diamond tiara, which she insisted on wearing at all times.

   By age eighteen, the physical tiara was gone, but the mindset of a queen remained. When she and Hamilton Holmes walked onto the University of Georgia’s campus on January 9, 1961, they were met by a sea of students hurling racial epithets as they passed. But for Hunter-Gault, the insults fell on deaf ears. As far as she was concerned, she was a queen, and they couldn’t possibly be talking about her.

   On March 22, Hunter-Gault spoke with a panel of students about the experiences highlighted in her autobiography, “In My Place.” With the help of moderator Dean Cully Clark, Hunter-Gault illustrated how her first seventeen years poised her to desegregate a staunchly segregated university.

   The adults that influenced Hunter-Gault and her classmates had lived under segregation their entire lives. At the first rumblings of desegregation, black families prepared their children for the trials they would face in the future. “Most black families I knew imbued their children with a sense of self that wouldn’t be denied by society,” said Hunter-Gault. “Society might deny it with artificial means, but it was critical to all of them that they teach us to be somebody.”

   Students of segregated elementary, middle and high schools never had access to the newest school supplies. In fact, by the time their “hand me down” textbooks reached their desks, many of the pages were missing. But they knew better than to complain. “Nobody ever cried about that, or made a big deal about it,” said Hunter-Gault. “They knew the pages were missing and they kept on.”

   Outside of school, families also used the church to prepare their children for the future, giving them leadership positions as missionaries or in Sunday school. They were determined to teach their children that they deserved the same respect that white children enjoyed. “Maybe it was primal memory, but they instinctively gave us first class citizenship,” said Hunter-Gault. “Even when I don’t win, I have enough of a suit of armor to pick myself up again.”

   Armed with her tiara and the ability to pick herself up again, Hunter-Gault used her goal of becoming a journalist to distract herself from the constant reminders- like slashed tires and egregious messages etched into her car- that she was not welcome on campus. But for Hunter-Gault, learning how to protect herself against racial advances in college proved just as useful as learning how to write a story.

      While covering apartheid in South Africa, she hosted a dinner for South African political leaders who told her that they were open to black South Africans obtaining the right to vote, as long as they were “brought to the standard” of white people. Hunter-Gault chose not to react, choosing instead to listen to their opinions in the interest of her story. “You may be sitting beside somebody whose absolute guts you’re beginning to hate because of the hate that’s coming out of their mouths,” she said. “And you ask them to tell you more.”

   As the audience of journalism students listened, Hunter-Gault discussed the interview technique that fueled her abundantly successful career. “I have always tried to approach people as if they were people and not news stories,” she said. “And that’s taken me a long way.”

   When she interviewed Nelson Mandela, she insisted that he have time for a cup of tea to ensure that he was relaxed before the interview. Once they started talking, she formed a connection with him by sharing her involvement in the American civil rights movement. When he asked if she knew Maya Angelou, she knew she was “home free.”
   She even found a connection with Muammar el-Qaddafi when she discovered that they had the same birthday.

   As she shared her experiences, she also connected with students in the audience.

   “I’ve been through a lot in my life, and I expected to pick up the book and personally identify with it,” said senior Marah Lidey. “But it was so inspiring to see the positive attitude with which she described things. She rarely focused on the negatives.”

   For senior Price McKeon, the connection came from Hunter-Gault’s discussion of her passion for journalism. “I have that passion I’ve had for journalism since before even middle school, and it was so great to hear about someone focusing so much on journalism rather than the differences and the troubles of what she faced,” she said. “It was really inspiring. It made me want to get up and do something.”

   Hunter-Gault’s dedication to journalism guided her through her undergraduate years, and it might have even saved her sense of bulldog pride.

   “I think that developed over time,” she said. “The way the university worked to try to reconcile the past I thought was an important thing that they did. And also to see the kids who are here being so enthusiastic and having such a positive time helped me to become a good dawg.”

   Like any good “dawg,” when she saw a young black couple sporting “Go Dawgs” T-shirts in the Johannesburg airport, she yelled “Go Dawgs” for the entire airport to hear. The couple smiled in return, bulldog to bulldog. No tiara necessary.