Out-of-state students speak out

Erin Colvin, junior

City and state: Coronado (San Diego), California

Why UGA: Brutally honest answer: I came to UGA because my mom moved to Georgia after graduation and forced me against my will to go to UGA for the cheap tuition. Politically correct answer: I came to UGA because I wanted to go to a big, out-of-state, division I sports school.

Biggest Difference: The most shocking differences about UGA and the south are that the stereotypes of the south are generally very correct, and people eat SO much fast-food here.

Best Part of UGA: What I really love about UGA is that there are tons of great ways to get involved and meet people. There's literally something for everyone to get involved with, no matter what his or her interests may be.

More or Less Racist: UGA is much more racist than where I came from, which is something I was not expecting before getting here.

Justin Ruth, freshman

City and state: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Why UGA: My family is close by, and my sister attends school here, which made it feel more and more like home with every visit before I decided to attend.

Biggest Difference: People in the south are SO much nicer and more polite and appreciative. It's very warming and welcoming being from out-of-state.

Best Part of UGA: The best part of UGA is by far the people and the campus atmosphere. I love being part of a SEC sports community, especially since I plan to major in Sports Management.

More or Less Racist: I honestly do not see a difference between UGA and the north as far as racism goes.

Brittany Altman, sophomore

City and state: Telluride, Colorado

Why UGA: I wanted a big school in an area with warm weather and an impressive program for broadcast news.

Biggest Difference: The food was definitely the biggest difference from Telluride. The nearest fast-food chain or franchise to my hometown is an hour away.

Best Part of UGA: The friends I have made here are the most amazing friends I have ever had in my life and that has made the distance from home that much easier.

More or Less Racist: I guess UGA and my hometown have the same level of racism but in different ways. In my hometown, more people make racist comments casually. But in Georgia, I have noticed the people who make the same comments are to their core hateful of that group of people. The use of the n-word is the biggest difference I’ve seen. In Telluride, people would say "What's up, nigga" versus "f***ing niggers" in Georgia. Less people in Georgia make racial comments, but the ones that do are saying those comments to be malicious.

Tommy Carroll, senior

City and state: Alexandria, Virginia

Why UGA: My brother was recruited to play baseball at Emory. One weekend when I was visiting him, he had class, and I had nothing to do, so I drove up to Athens and loved it.

Biggest Difference: I was shocked to see how rare it was for kids from the Southeast to leave the Southeast for school. I felt like everyone from my hometown shot-gunned around the country – or at least would have it they could afford it. Southerners love the south.

Best Part of UGA: I love the family atmosphere. I do not consider the football team my favorite part, but rather the friends and family that come together because of it. The Classic City is pretty sweet, also.

More or Less Racist: It is unfair to generalize the entire student body, but as a whole I do think that UGA is more racist. I came from a pretty diverse and progressive town so the comparison is a little unfair. The Southeast in general felt the sting of slavery and segregation more than anywhere in the country, so the tension is understandable. That said, the presence of racism is far from justifiable, as it is anywhere. It was really difficult to get used to.

Evan Silverman, freshman

City and state: Rochester, New York

Why UGA: I came to UGA because it has everything I was looking for in a school: good academics, a nice college town, an awesome social scene, great weather and big-time sports.

Biggest Difference: The most shocking difference is the language. People talk differently than I do and seem more polite.

Best Part of UGA: My favorite thing about UGA is game day.

More or Less Racist: I would say that UGA is probably more racist than where I come from. Maybe that's just because I went to a very diverse high school, but I hear a lot more racist comments here.

Kelsey Montgomery, sophomore

City and state: North Potomac, Maryland

Why UGA: I came to UGA because I wanted an experience in a different, far away state.

Biggest Difference: The southern twang shocked me the most.

Best Part of UGA: I like how diverse Athens is since it’s not all college students.

More or Less Racist: UGA is more racist in my opinion. Race was never an issue at home. Here, I hear more racist jokes here, and, in Greek life, people vocalize that sororities should remain completely white.

Desegregation: Trial Re-enactment

For about an hour in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom, it was once again Jan. 6, 1961 and Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were once again fighting for admission into the University of Georgia.

On Feb. 25, the Davenport-Benham Black Law Students Association and the UGA school of law performed a reenactment of the fateful trial that eventually lead to the admission of UGA’s first black students: Hunter and Holmes.

After the fictitious Judge Bootle, played by Ronald L. Carlson (Fuller E. Callaway Chair of Law Emeritus), welcomed the audience to the year 1961 with some historical background, the “trial” began.

The actors were accurately dressed in 60s garb and performed their roles quite well, considering all of the participants were law students.

There was a general shudder amongst the spectators when the word “negro” made its first appearance in the dialogue, but after that, the rest of the “trial” carried on smoothly.

All of the members involved in the reenactment have been working on this project for quite a while. “We came up with the idea for the event last semester and it’s kind of been rolling from fall until now,” said Sherida Jones, who portrayed Hunter in the “trial.”

They somehow managed to cram the original trial, which was four and a half days long, into just under an hour.

“To do it with the punch and conciseness that we did, we had to take a lot of the testimony out,” said Carlson. “This is the first time that anyone has gone to the original trial records in the case and extracted testimony.”

When the trial reenactment concluded, there was a panel discussion featuring some distinguished UGA graduates, a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Horace T. Ward.

Ward, who was denied admission to UGA’s law school in 1950, played a crucial role in the university’s desegregation.

He reflected on his memories from the trial and said that the whole process was “very tense.”

In 1961, after the actual trial was over, the judge ordered that both students be admitted right at that instant. Ward said, “I was a little afraid for Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes to come down here so quickly.”

Other various members of the panel also offered recollections of their past experiences involving desegregation and discussed about the racial issues that are still going on today.

The general consensus of the discussions as well as the event itself can best be summed up with a quote from Ward. "Things are looking up, but there is still a lot to be done."

Progression of Black Faculty

Historically the University of Georgia has been known as a predominantly white school in both their faculty and students.

Seven years after the desegregation of UGA, Richard Graham became the first full-time African-American faculty member. He began his career at UGA as a visiting professor at the School of Music and after a year became part of the faculty. He later became director of the school in 1994.

In 1980, the Black Faculty and Staff Organization was formed to create a positive environment for minority students. The idea of the organization was to help students appreciate African-American History while giving them an environment to grow in their culture.

“Considering history and the civil rights movement during that time period it’s amazing that he was hired in the 1960’s at all, especially in such a conservative state like Georgia,” says Danielle Davison a black UGA sophomore.

Black faculty have an important role in recruiting and encouraging minority students. According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE) Research Department, only five flagship state universities out of the nation’s 50 have more than 100 black faculty members. UGA can be found with 167 black faculty in 2006.

“I am the only African American faculty at Grady which is really disappointing, and I think something should be done about it obviously,” said Valerie Boyd, Associate Professor at UGA.

According to the Office of Institutional Research at UGA, the black faculty percentage in Fall 2000 was 4.9% compared to 5.3% in Fall 2010.

“If we make an intention to make the faculty more diverse then we would recruit differently,” said Boyd, “We would be more aggressive about trying to find a diverse faculty to reflect the diverse demographics of the state.”

The US Census Bureau indicates that the black percentage for the state of Georgia in 2009 was 30.2% which is well above UGA’s black faculty percentage.

“It is important to let people know that the UGA is more than an educational institution it is also an employer,” says Director for Programs and Outreach, Vanessa Smith who has spent the last 26 years working for UGA.

Smith has seen UGA make efforts to improve faculty of color on campus at career fairs, but has noticed people of color are just not applying. “If there were no people of color applying then you can’t hire if they don’t apply,” states Boyd.

Progression in black faculty can be found, but still needs to be improved. “I think their have been efforts made,” says Smith, “I still think we have a ways to go.”

Hunter-Gault’s experience defined by race, gender too

The civil rights movement boasted an impressive group of activists, among them Malcolm X, Whitney Young, and Congressman John Lewis. Although these men greatly contributed to the civil rights movement, historians often recognize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as its backbone.

“For so many years, our perception of the movement was one that we call King-centric, the idea that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was at the center of everything,” UGA history professor Dr. Robert Pratt said.

According to Pratt, not only was the civil rights movement King-centric, but it was male-centric as well.

“There were a lot of male civil rights leaders in the forefront,” he said. “There were women that were doing very brave things too, but for the most part, were not getting any attention. It wouldn’t be until later that historians would go back and discover the role that women played.”

Pratt credits Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the first black woman admitted to UGA, for bringing attention to women’s roles in the movement.

“I think it certainly gave African-American women an enormous since of pride,” he said.

When evaluating the differences between Hamilton Holmes, who was the first black man admitted to UGA, and Hunter-Gault’s experiences, one factor cannot be ignored: their differences in gender. For instance, when Hunter-Gault stepped foot on UGA’s campus in 1961, the university had a requirement that all female students live on campus. Holmes was allowed to live off campus because males did not have such restrictions.

“The fact that she was female and had to stay on campus certainly made her experience different than Holmes’,” Pratt said. “I think she maybe worked harder at trying to get along with white students and because she had to live on campus, there was really no place for her to hide.”

Some female students supported Hunter-Gault while she was living on campus.

“There were a group of female Jewish students that came to her and told her that they understood what she was going through,” said Dr. Derrick Alridge, the Director of UGA’s Institute for African American Studies. “They came from a similar story of discrimination and racism.”

Many of Hunter-Gault’s peers in Myers Hall, however, were not pleased to share their living space with a black woman.

“When Charlayne first came here, many of the girls that were in her dorm weren’t necessarily comfortable with her,” said Jill Severn, head of Access and Outreach at the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies. “There’s this assumption that just because they were all women, that they were all sisters in a way. That sort of solidarity is undercut by things like race and class.”

According to Severn, some women sought out Hunter-Gault later on and apologized for their behavior.

“You don’t want to get into a sort of ‘these are the good women, and these are the women that are on the wrong side of history’,” she said. “It’s a complex history and over time, people change their views.”

Severn notes that for the most part, Mary Francis Early, the first black woman to graduate from UGA, came to the university to support Hunter-Gault.

“She didn’t want her to have to be here by herself,” Severn said.

Lilly Workneh profile

“I write everything in my planner,” said University of Georgia student Lilly Workneh, 19,

“I am obsessed with my planner.”

Workneh has good reason to depend on her planner jammed pack with to-do lists. Currently a dual major at UGA studying publication management and consumer journalism, she is involved in a myriad of activities and organizations. Whether she is starting her own publication on campus or attending a Grady ambassador meeting, Workneh certainly keeps busy.

A day in the shoes of such a successful individual doesn’t come easily. “Getting through an entire to-do list is hard,” Workneh said, “because it usually contains about 10 to 15 bullets.”

Workneh’s involvement started in high school when she worked as a columnist for her high school newspaper and an anchor on her high school’s television newscast. Workneh knew she would always be interested in journalism, but finally decided to pursue print news rather than broadcast news.

Workneh is currently a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, a Grady ambassador, managing editor of InFUSion magazine, editor in chief of the magazine she founded called Showcase, a copy editor for UGAzine, a member of the magazine club, a member of Professional Entertainment Sports Association, and a member of the Multicultural Business Students Association.

“My biggest accomplishment would have to be my magazine,” Workneh said, “just because I started it pretty much from scratch and I wanted it as an outlet for NABJ members to gain experience in journalism, especially print.”

Showcase is an online publication that is released every semester. Workneh originally came up with the idea when she served as secretary for NABJ, and wanted a more creative way to deliver news to its members, and provide members with writing opportunities.

Workneh said two of her favorite activities include Grady Ambassadors and InFusion magazine, because she enjoys the ability to meet new people and network with other students interested in journalism.

“I think she is a natural born leader,” said Maggie Siu, a friend and coworker with her at InFUSion magazine, “She is confident and personal, which are both good qualities in a colleague.”

Previously an intern at BLVD, a magazine in Athens, Ga., and at the Athens Clarke County Public Information Office, Workneh is on track for a successful future. And believe it or not, Workneh somehow finds time in her busy schedule to work at the UGA calling center to raise money for an internship with a magazine this summer in New York City.

“I love working with Lilly,” said Casey Bruce, 21, editor-in-chief of InFUSion magazine, “She has constantly surpassed my expectations, and I am always impressed with her work.”

Workneh’s success as a young black woman at UGA is specifically relevant to this year’s celebration of desegregation.

“I feel like their coverage of [the anniversary of desegregation] was really well done, it wasn’t understated in any way,” Workneh said, “It was well known and it is a big deal to me personally and I think they recognized it as being one of the major milestones in UGA’s history.”

The Queen Returns- Story 2

   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 18, 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 Jan. 9, 1961, they were met by a sea of students chanting racial epithets as they passed. But for Hunter-Gault, the insults fell on deaf ears. “They weren’t saying, ‘there goes the n word,’” said Hunter-Gault. “They were saying, ‘there goes the nigger.’ And I was looking around for this nigger. Because I was like, ‘I’m a queen.’”

   Capping off 50 days of desegregation events, Hunter-Gault spent the morning of March 22 speaking 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 childhood 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 were taught not 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 her perseverance, Hunter-Gault did her best to lead a normal life as a student. But for her, “normal” meant patching the dorm room window that was shattered by a carefully aimed brick. It meant discovering egregious messages etched into her car. It meant living in solitude because no one would share a room, or even a hall, with her.

   But within the spotlight she was thrown into, she found her saving grace.

   As the journalists questioned her, she questioned them. After all, she would be in their shoes one day. “I had this burning desire to be a journalist,” said Hunter-Gault. “As the journalists were interviewing me, I was watching their technique. Sometimes defense mechanisms take over and you don’t even know it.”

   She did, in fact, find herself in their shoes. Her wildly successful career as a journalist distinguishes her as the “most influential graduate of the Grady College,” according to Dean Clark. But for Hunter-Gault, learning how to protect herself against racial advances in college proved just as pertinent to her career as learning how to write a story.

   While she was 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 record 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.”

   Hunter-Gault has always kept humanity at the center of the story. During her first few weeks on campus, scores of reporters asked probing questions about her experience. She found solace in the company of her dorm mom, who simply asked how she was doing. So when she interviewed Nelson Mandela, she insisted that he have time to relax and drink a cup of tea 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.”
   Before an interview with Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, she discovered that they had the same birthday. In the interview, she had to ask why he was killing and torturing his people. But first, she told him what they had in common. “Home free” once again.

   Whether she was interviewing controversial leaders like Qaddafi or staring racism in the face at UGA, Hunter-Gault tried to keep an open mind. “I think one of the greatest blessings I have is being able to assess people, and figure out the good ones and those that I can learn from,” she said. “It’s just a function of being open to them and learning from them and not thinking you know everything.”

   As Hunter-Gault shared what she learned from other people, students in attendance focused on what they could learn from her.

   “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.

Story 2, Sarah Osbourne

“I write everything in my planner,” said University of Georgia student Lilly Workneh, 19, “I am obsessed with my planner.”

Workneh has good reason to depend on her planner jammed with her to do lists. Currently a dual major at UGA studying publication management and consumer journalism, she is involved in a myriad of activities and organizations. Whether she is starting her own publication on campus or attending a Grady ambassador meeting, Workneh certainly keeps her schedule packed.

So what’s it like to spend a day in the shoes of the successful student? “Getting through an entire to do list is hard,” said Workneh, “because it usually contains about 10 to 15 bullets.”

Workneh’s involvement started in high school when she worked as a columnist for her high school newspaper and an anchor on her high school’s television newscast. Workneh knew she would always be interested in journalism, but finally decided to pursue print news rather than broadcast news.

Workneh is currently a member of National Association of Black Journalists, a Grady ambassador, managing editor of InFUSion magazine, editor in chief of the magazine she founded called Showcase, a copy editor for UGAzine, a member of the magazine club, a member of Professional Entertainment Sports Association, and a member of the Multicultural Business Students Association.

“My biggest accomplishment would have to be my magazine,” said Workneh, “just because I started it pretty much from scratch and I wanted it as an outlet for NABJ members to gain experience in journalism, especially print.” Showcase is an online publication that is released every semester. Workneh originally came up with the idea when she served as Secretary for NABJ, and wanted a more creative way to deliver news to its members, and provide members with writing opportunities.

Workneh said two of her favorite activities include Grady Ambassadors and InFusion magazine, because she enjoys the ability to meet new people and network with other students interested in journalism.

Previously an intern at BLVD, a magazine in Athens, Ga., and Athens Clarke County Public Information Office, Workneh is on track for a successful future. And believe it or not, Workneh somehow finds time in her busy schedule to work at the UGA calling center to raise money for an internship with a magazine this summer in New York City.

Workneh’s success as a young black woman at UGA is specifically relevant to this year’s celebration of desegregation. “I feel like their coverage of [the anniversary of desegregation] was really well done, it wasn’t understated in anyway,” said Workneh, “It was well known and it is a big deal to me personally and I think they recognized it as being one of the major milestones in UGA’s history.”

what makes a college desegregated?

Digging Deeper… A look at Desegregation for Biracial Students

Growing up in a biracial household Miaje Hubbard, Taylor Schlopy, and Dmitri Pelaez are anything but the self described “black kid.”

Miaje Hubbard, a freshman at Tennessee State University a historically black college in Nashville, Tenn. talks about her eye- opening experiences as a freshman biracial student.  One of the hardest aspects of being a biracial student is that “people don’t believe you’re black because you look white and act white.”  She said dressing a certain way affects the way the rest of the students see you.  “I dress ‘preppier’ than other girls at my school” and since “dressing a certain way is considered being black therefore I’m not black.” 

Hubbard said at least once a day someone will tell her she’s not black. 

“It’s hard because even things that I can’t help: like the darkness of my skin, or the softness of my hair affect the way the rest of the students see me.”

Dmitri Peleaz a junior transfer student at UGA talked of his first two years as a 3 sport athlete and Kappa Sai member at Tuskegee University.  He said “it’s harder to fit in (at Tuskegee) because people see me and automatically notice I’m not full black.” 

Taylor Schlopy, a senior softball star for UGA’s top ranked program said “most people don’t believe that I’m Black which is a little discouraging because I have to defend my ethnicity.” 

Hubbard said most people don’t do it intentionally.  It’s a subconscious act, a slight second where they judge you based on your appearance.  I think social and economic standing also has a lot to do with what group you get categorized in, she said. 

“Sadly most people assume if you’re white you have more money, therefore; it’s not just a racial division but also an economic division.”

A native of California, Schlopy said her time at Georgia has been interesting because being from Ca she never ran into people who were racist or didn’t like the idea of inter-racial couples and that “it’s heartbreaking to see that the world is still like that.” 

In order to further the success of desegregation at home and in public Schlopy said, “In all honesty it comes down to how we’re raising our children and that needs to change across the entire world.”

In agreement with that statement, another California baby- Hubbard said, you see more issues with racism in the South but that ultimately it comes down to parenting.  “If you put these ideas in your kids’ heads they will trickle down into the next generations.” 

Peleaz said the issue goes as far to people in church.  Races contrary to the accustomed race for that church are looked at differently, and he wishes “that people would be more open to different cultures.” 

Regarding the institutional realm, Peleaz exposed a deeper issue with HBCU colleges as a whole.  He said, although it’s neat to see other Blacks achieving, “finding a White, Asian, or Hespanic student on campus is like finding a four leaf clover.”  

“This gives you a false vision of the world because you live, work and study with nothing but one race.  But when you graduate and go into the real world you will be working with everybody.”

This factor makes it hard for HBCU colleges to prepare students for the real world.  Compared to UGA, students have class with all different people and get an assortment of backgrounds and viewpoints. 

Dmitri said segregating yourself to one race creates “an illusion of the world.” 

Hubbard, Schlopy and Peleaz each expressed their own thoughts on how to better create a more desegregated campus and lifestyle. 

The answer lied in two words: cultural sensitivity.

Based on their personal experiences, each gave their own definition of what those two words meant to them. 

“Cultural sensitivity is seeing beyond what the eyes can see.  It’s important because we must learn to look at what’s not in front of us.  In order to do this we must accept other people’s culture’s and not be judgmental based on where they come from or their economic standing,” said Hubbard. 

“Cultural sensitivity is not putting your own culture others them because every culture is different, and no culture is better than another.  We can become more culturally sensitive by getting to know people before we pre-determine their personality.  Don’t let the media decide someone’s personal traits before you even talk to them,” said Peleaz.

“Cultural sensitivity is respecting everyone’s individual culture.  There shouldn’t be a set definition on what someone’s culture is.  Who’s to say what I’m supposed to believe or act?  We should let the world be.  It’s a process of learning and trying not to judge,” said Schlopy. 

Celebrating the 50^th  anniversary of desegregation at the University of Georgia represents half a century of dedication to equality amongst its student body.  Just as the university changed its policy 50 years ago, the world is changing daily as well.  In order to further this successful desegregation campaign we must all fight for cultural sensitivity.  There world isn’t divided by black and white.  The grey area is no longer other.  But the biracial world is emerging and we must learn to accept it and further more embrace it.   

“I love that I am from two ethnicities.  It is special to stand for something that a lot of people still don’t believe in the United States.  Biracial people are making it and I want to give hope to younger generations and help show people who don’t believe that different races should come together that biracial people are beautiful and have so much to give to the world,” said Schlopy. 

Miaje Hubbard is Black and White

Dmitri Peleaz is Colombian, Moroccan, and Black

Taylor Schlopy is Black and White

Alienation Reinforces Segregation

Hannah Tucker never thought twice about diversity at the University of Georgia.

“I thought it was 50 percent black and 50 percent white because that’s what’s fair,” Tucker, a sophomore at UGA, said.

Her freshman year, Tucker roomed with Danielle Cannady, 20, a black sophomore at UGA.

“There is a strong black presence, so people assume we’re even, but it’s only 8% black,” Cannady said.

Cannaday, now a Resident Assistant at Mell Hall, has 48 residents—none of which are black.

Out of all the residents in Mell Hall, there are only 9 black residents.

Because there are so few black students on campus, all black people speak to each other.

“Black people definitely seek each other out on campus,” Cannady said. “It’s a courtesy to acknowledge each other.”

Cannady and Tucker grew close during their freshman year, and Tucker frequently ate in the dining halls with Cannady and her black friends.

“The dining halls are very segregated,” Tucker said. “I got stares in the dining hall and on my floor in Brumby for being with my black friends.”

Tucker said that all the dining halls are segregated and not just into black and white.

“The Asians stick together,” she said.

But it's a different story for black athletes, who are frequently seen dining with their teams, both black and white members.

“If a black athlete was with a group of black people, it's because those were his friends,” Tucker said. “Black athletes have a bond with their whole team because it's not about color, it's about the team and their schedule.”

For the black non-athletes, it's harder to make the adjustment to being around white people.

Cannady immediately felt a sense of isolation during her orientation at UGA.

She came to UGA with the mindset that she would make a lot of friends, but by the end of her first day of orientation, the only friend she made was another black girl.

“You don't know them from Adam and Eve, but they're black, you're black, you've got to be going through the same thing,” Cannady said.

Cannady, now best friends with Tucker, doesn't worry about diversity in her life.

“I hang out with diverse people, but I hang out with black people and do black things, too.”

Story 2

For two hours in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom, it was once again January 6, 1961 and Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were once again fighting for admission into the University of Georgia.

On February 25, the Davenport-Benham Black Law Students Association and the UGA school of aw performed a reenactment of the fateful trial that eventually lead to the admission of UGA’s first black students; Hunter and Holmes.

After the fictitious Judge Bootle, played by Ronald L. Carlson (Fuller E. Callaway Chair of Law Emeritus), welcomed the audience to the year 1961 with some historical background, the “trial” began.

The actors were accurately dressed in 60s garb and performed their roles quite well, considering all of the participants were law students.

There was a general shudder amongst the spectators when the word “negro” made its first appearance in the dialogue, but after that, the rest of the “trial” carried on smoothly.

All of the members involved in the reenactment have been working on this project for quite a while. “We came up with the idea for the event last semester and it’s kind of been rolling from fall until now,” said Sherida Jones, who portrayed Hunter in the “trial.”

They somehow managed to cram the original trial, which was four and a half days long, into just under an hour.

“To do it with the punch and conciseness that we did, we had to take a lot of the testimony out,” said Carlson. “This is the first time that anyone has gone to the original trial records in the case and extracted testimony.”

When the trial reenactment concluded, there was panel discussion featuring some distinguished UGA graduates, a reporter from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Horace T. Ward. Ward was denied from UGA’s law school in 1950 and played a crucial role in the university’s desegregation.

Ward reflected on his memories from the trial and said that the whole process was “very tense.”

In 1961, after the actual trial was over, the judge ordered that both students be admitted right at that instant. Ward said that “I was a little afraid for Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes to come down here so quickly.”

Other various members of the panel also offered recollections of their past involving desegregation and discussed about the racial issues that are still going on today.

The general consensus of the discussions as well as the event itself can best be summed up with a quite from Ward. “Things are looking up, but there is still a lot to be done.”

Perspective affects progression

Legal desegregation took place on campus at the University of Georgia fifty years ago but that doesn’t mean all the race issues are resolved and everyone is treated equally.

The world is “still very prejudiced, [some] don’t want to be associated with black people and its not uncommon,” Dr. Elwood Beck said. “It’s the public display of racism which was widely accepted is now not widely accepted. Now what you have is much more private.”

Beck is a sociology professor at the University of Georgia and has studied race relations for many years for his Sociology of the South class.

“The University of Georgia at that period was, not only was it segregated, but it had a different philosophy of how to relate to students,” Beck said. “It was a time of parentis, the idea and notion was that when your parents dropped you off here the university became your parent so they told you where you could go, when you had to be in your dorm, what you could do and a variety of things that if applied to you today you would just find totally and completely unacceptable. “

Beck describes how society has transformed from legal segregation to self-segregation.

“Now you are choosing to be with people that you are comfortable with,” Beck said. “That is not the same as being told you cannot go into a place.”

He said that the first is empowering because people have the choice to sit with people they know they like. This in itself shows a big shift in society.

Since Beck lived through the time of segregation, he sees the difference in society now.

“I’m still amazed. The other day I was walking across on campus and a black guy and a white girl were walking. They were just talking, they weren’t holding hands, they were just talking and God knows what they were talking about,” Beck said. “But what struck me was, my God, fifty years ago he would have been killed. I mean literally he would have been killed.”

Sara Lorusso, 63, was a student at UGA from 1966-1970. She describes her experiences growing up as positive in regards to race relations because she was sheltered from most of the harassment and racism.

Lorusso remembers ‘colored folks’ moving out of her way when she walked down the sidewalk in her hometown.

She also recalls seeing separate water fountains and bathrooms but it never phased her because its what she thought that’s the way it was supposed to be.

However, as Lorusso got older, she realized that wasn’t true.

“I heard a lot of terrible things about Martin Luther King, Jr. and people who worked with him as they slowly began to work through the south and create the momentum for the Civil Rights Movement,” Lorusso said. “But I can tell you that I personally never had a bad experience through all that. I heard people say bad things; I still hear people say bad things.”

“We were on the progressive side of the [Civil Rights Movement] and I saw it from that angle more than from the negative angle,” Lorusso said. “So it was a very interesting experience, very eye-opening and I feel very grateful to have lived through it. And I think I have a greater appreciation for race relations than those who did not live through it.”

She said she saw the people who were in the movement as ‘patriots’ and thinks they made a real difference in this country and what its like now.

However, Lorusso also said that there are still a lot of problems in this country and that it’s still segregated in many ways.

“Maybe more economically than racially but it kind of works out to be the same thing,” Lorusso said. “So I still think we have a long way to go to being a color-blind society.”

Both Beck and Lorusso agree that the face of the University is changing because the students did not experience a truly segregated society.

“My generation remembers what segregation was like, both if you’re black or if you’re white, if you grew up in the south, you knew what segregation was like and can see the change,” Beck said. “For [the new] generation, its part of what they’ve always accepted so there are very little changes that they’ve observed in their lifetime. But yet there’s a monumental change that’s happening in southern society.”

Come Together.

Segregation kept blacks and whites apart.

Desegregation drove Doc Eldridge and Michael Thurmond together.

Following a screening of the Peabody award-winning film “The Search for Quality Education: Busing,” the pair shared their story:

Both Eldridge and Thurmond had been student council presidents until the dawn of desegregation re-drew the map and brought whites and blacks together.

The pair weren’t thrown together by their differences, however, but their similarities — and in time became good friends.

Now the former mayor of Athens and former state Labor Commissioner, respectively, Eldridge and Thurmond have gone on to influence far larger stages than that of the Classic City, but their story remains vital.

“We originally thought we would try and find some people that were featured in the documentary, but that proved to be a little more of a challenge,” said Diane H. Murray, Director of Public Service and Alumni Outreach at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication which is coordinating the event in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the desegregation of the university.

“We thought it was a natural fit,” Murray said, referring to the film’s place both in the list of commemorative events and in the university’s extensive archive of Peabody-winning work, overseen by professor and awards director Horace Newcomb.

So Grady reached out to Eldridge and Thurmond.

“They’re both very interesting on their own,” Murray said, “and the two of them together talking about their experiences, we [thought], [would] be very interesting.”

The answer was immediate.

“It was an easy ask,” Murray said. 

They were happy to appear and connect with an audience — an important part of the screening and discussion.

“We’ve been really pleased with how the audience has engaged,” Murray said.

Some of the positive reaction may be due, in part, to the documentary’s regional feel: one segment features Athens specifically, with comments from William Tate and Charles McDaniel, among others.

Of course, that was always the hope.

“We chose this documentary, in part, because it features Athens,” Murray said. 

However there is more than one part to the issue and side to the struggle.

Although “Busing” was made in 1972, almost 40 years ago, its problems remain a very real part of the landscape of today, Murray said.

“What we’re hoping I people will see how far we’ve come,” she said, “and that we still have a ways to go.”