Black Groups Sponsor Desegregation Events

This year's desegregation events combined history, tradition and culture with help from campus groups.

In the 50th celebration of desegregation at the University of Georgia, many student organizations came together to sponsor events and programs on campus.

“They aide and assist in acculturation,” said Culpepper Clark, Dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at UGA. These black student groups held galas, preformed ceremonies and put on productions, inviting the UGA campus to celebrate 50 years of desegregation.

“We need an environment where we are open to our differences and welcome them,” said Clark. “You get the rich experience of interacting with anybody and everybody.”

One club, the Abeneefoo Kuo Honor Society, is devoted to “scholarship, leadership, and service” on the UGA campus and surrounding areas. Founded in 1977, the ABK is devoted to the pursuit of greatness in all areas and they provide “educational, career, and personal assistance to members of ABK and others.”

“We are the first and only African-centered honor society on campus,” said Bridgette Burton, Director of Community Service for ABK.

The ABK also works with the Athens Area Homeless Shelter, W. R. Coile Middle School and the Northeast Georgia Food Bank.

On Feb. 5th, ABK held their 2011 member induction as part of the events of desegregation. Members participated in rituals and ceremonies as part of their induction into the honor society.

“Our induction is unique in that we have a specific tradition of pinning and giving our members stoles,” said Burton. “The stoles are worn at all of the formal occasions hosted by our society.”
In Swahili, Abeneefoo Kuo means “circle of honor.”

“During the desegregation events, we added 12 new members into our circle,” said Burton.

ABK also holds an annual spelling bee called “Play on Words” in which other multicultural organizations participate. At the spelling bee, “student groups play and spell both dictionary and slang words to win prizes from local businesses,” Burton adds.

Another society, the Black Affairs Council, also sponsored desegregation events this year.
Formally known as the Black Student Union, the Black Affairs Council aims to encourage black students to create programs and to reach out on the UGA campus. With 140 members, the Black Affairs council calls themselves the “socio-cultural educational arm of the African American community” at UGA.

The Black Affairs Council has many objectives as a large student organization. First, the council aims to supplement widespread understanding of black culture and to support the ideas of the Multicultural Services and Programs at UGA.

The council also promotes the leadership of black students and encourages their attendance at national workshops and conventions. Also, the BAC aims to expand the perspective of black students and highlight their skills and talents while they are UGA students.

This year's Unity Ball, as part of the 50th Anniversary of Desegregation at UGA events, was sponsored by the BAC.

“It is an annual event to commemorate and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of unity and brotherhood across any and all cultural lines,” said Michelle Gibson, Cultural and Social Programming Committee Chair for the Black Affairs Council. “This is one of the only formal annual events hosted by a myriad of organizations to not only showcase culture, but truly celebrate it.”

The BAC meets every other Wednesday at the Miller Learning Center room 248 at 5:15 p.m.
Another student group, the UGA Black Theatrical Ensemble, is promoting the celebration of desegregation through the fine arts.

The BTE is for students interested in drama, giving them an outlet for their talents even if they have little or no experience. The BTE aims to introduce members of the audience to aspects of African American theater.

“Our purpose is to produce shows that celebrate African American playwrights and artists,” said Burton, the Marketing and PR Director for the BTE.

The BTE is open to all students regardless of theatrical background. They also provide members with opportunities to work in production, costumes, design, managing and community service.

“All parts of the show are done by students - writing, directing, acting, technical, marketing, et cetera,” said Burton.

This winter's performance, “Supernatural Courage: Love, Passion, Sacrifice,” was promoted as a desegregation event and was held on the night of Feb. 17.

“The program was put on in honor of Mr. Lynwoodt Benard Jenkins, a graduate student in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies,” said Burton. The late Jenkins was also the director of the BTE's fall production, Sweet Mama Stringbean, and a graduate assistant in the LGBT Resource Center.

“As an organization, we wanted to celebrate the artist that Lynwoodt was and the passion he had for theatre,” said Burton.

The title of the program was inspired by Lynwoodt's final original piece titled “Supernatural.”
Students in the department of Theatre and Film Studies, a well as members of Pamoja dance company, the LGBT Resource Center, and the Beta Zeta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. worked together to present “Supernatural Courage” as an addition to this year's desegregation events.

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.”

Ms. Sandra's Love

Ms. Sandra’s Love

As students push their way through the double doors into UGA’s Snelling Dining Commons, welcoming shouts of  “Come on in darlin.” “Hello sweet pea!” and “How are you doin boo?” ring through the air. At the cashier turnstile stands a short African-American woman clothed in an over-sized hunter green polo shirt, with embroidery reading “The University of Georgia” (complete with the arch logo), and “Food Services” below that in white lettering. On the opposite side, she wears a name badge that reads, “Ms. Sandra Patterson, Cashier-Snelling.”

She smiles broadly revealing a large, yet perfect gap between her two front teeth. Bangs hang just above her eyebrows, and her neatly combed hair is shoulder length. Snelling’s soul and many students mom-away-from-home, stands right in front of me sipping on cranberry juice from a UGA Food Services mug.

Raised by her father and grandmother, the South Carolina native has bittersweet memories of childhood with her nine sisters. She commends her father on a job well done. “He was one in a million,” she said.

 Her family relocated to Athens, Ga. when she was 6 years old. She was educated through the Athens-Clarke County school system and graduated from Clarke Central High School in 1978. “I was pretty much a quiet girl,” she said. “Because there was so many of us, I didn’t get to do much.”

Ms. Sandra began her adult life at the age of 18, when she got married. At the time, she was working at a children’s daycare center. She somberly remembers coming out of work for three years to care for her newborn. When she went back to work, reporting though to a different place.

“When I first started here, I wasn’t a cashier,” she said. I was on the main line and a salad maker.”

She moved around campus a bit to The Bulldog Café and other campus eateries. She came back to Snelling though, “because this was home,” she said pointing passionately to table we sat at.

Speaking of the “home” suddenly makes her cheeks perk up and eyes brighten as she states that she’s the proud mother of three and a grandmother to five. “I love children” she said, “that’s my main focus.”

Ms. Sandra says her love for children is “probably because my mom died when I was small and who ever takin’ care of you, they don’t take care of you like mom.”  Looking downward yet smiling, she said, “that’s probably part of my life I’m missing, so I try to take it up now, and give. And I enjoy it too.”

Giving is the most important part of Ms. Sandra’s cashier position.  She works Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. most days, including some Saturdays. On average, she greets 2,400 students a day, according to the Executive Director of Food Services, J. Michael Floyd.  Ms. Sandra beams joy into student’s lives daily with her upbeat personality and warm greetings. She gets that joy “from God.” “He’s the one keeping me happy [and] making sure I have it in me to give out to others.”

Students pass through the turnstiles and immediately she reigns them in for a hug. Not one person walks by Ms. Sandra without being touched emotionally or hugged physically. Some students even stop to share their problems such as, “I’m not getting A’s Ms. Sandra,” in which she replies, “uh ah, we can’t have that,” and proceeds to examine the problem further.

She’s more than a cashier to most students at UGA, including a recent alum, Chris LeCraw, creator of the Facebook group, “I love Sandra the Snelling Dining Hall Lady” which now has 3,149 members. Respect and appreciation for Ms. Sandra runs deep through bulldog blood. “No matter how I felt before entering Snelling, I couldn’t help but walk away feeling happier after seeing Ms. Sandra,” he said.  He remembers, she “would ask me about my classes, how I was feeling, girls I was dating, etc.” LeCraw is just one of the many students who formed a friendship with Ms. Sandra over the years he spent here at UGA.

 Tim Felz, a fifth year senior from Augusta, Ga. will always have fond memories of Ms. Sandra. Felz recently invited Ms. Sandra to attend a Phi Slam party, a Christian organization he is affiliated with. Ms. Sandra went to the party, and according to Felz, not only danced the night away, but also called out students by name to compliment them on their dance moves. Felz said he’s gone through various phases while in college, but has always felt loved and encouraged by Ms. Sandra. Felz also said that  he noticed Ms. Sandra treated other students with “the same genuineness and authenticity that she did me.”

Floyd spoke of UGA alumnus memories pertaining to Ms. Sandra: “when they think of their four years at UGA, they’ll remember Ms. Sandra because she’s the lady at Snelling that made them feel at home.” Floyd also notices that, “it’s the joy that her customers show her, that is her paycheck.” Ms. Sandra is not only appreciated by the study body for her loving character, but also by her coworkers at Snelling.

Although unnoticed formally as part of University of Georgia’s desegregation movement, Ms. Sandra is one of the biggest contributors to change for the good.  She has been a Snelling employee for 22 years, Ms. Sandra has never let an opportunity to greet students pass her by. The instant she lays eyes on a student, she begins to care for them as her own, regardless of their race, color, ethnicity or creed.  “She looks past appearance,” said Felz.

Ms. Sandra’s self-made goal is to “make sure everybody feels comfortable so they’ll want to stay here.” Through her hugs, kisses and warm phrases, she offers the UGA student body a most unusual love, a blind love. Succinctly put by Felz, “at UGA, there’s a lady who loves all, and her name is Ms. Sandra.”

Desegregation of SEC schools

Harold Franklin, Vivian Malone, James Hood and James Meredith had dreams of attending southern colleges, like Auburn University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Mississippi. For black students, this goal was made seemingly impossible until the desegregation of southern universities in the 1950s and 60s.
The University of Georgia integrated in January of 1961, but other Southeastern Conference schools were not as quick to desegregate during the shaky times of civil rights. The integration processes of other colleges compare to that of UGA in the tumultuous times of the 1960s and Jim Crow.

May 1954
With the ruling of the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court determined that segregation is unequal.

Auburn University
At Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., integration was happening smoothly. The first black student, Harold Franklin enrolled on Jan. 4, 1964. Since the campus had been historically conservative, both politically and socially, the students were barely affected by the radical movements of the 1960s.

University of Alabama
Vivian Malone and James Hood, two black students, ventured to integrate the University of Alabama in 1963.
They were denied admission to the university by Gov. George C. Wallace, who famously vowed to protect segregation by “standing in the schoolhouse door.” President John F. Kennedy mobilized the Alabama National Guard, and Gov. Wallace was ordered to step aside as the students enrolled.
“Nowhere did the images of freedom's struggle or the faces of evil show themselves in sharper relief than in Alabama,” said civil rights historian Culpepper Clark in his book, The Schoolhouse Door. Clark, dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. He describes, in his book, the historic setting, people and events in the integration of the University of Alabama.

Tulane
“Tulane was desegregated in 1962,” says August Milton, Associate Director of the Office of Institutional Equity. During their integration, Tulane, in New Orleans, La., was a part of the SEC and left the conference in 1966.

University of Tennessee
In 1952, four black graduate students were admitted to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In 1957, while the state was making the change to integration, an integrated school in Nashville was blown up with dynamite by white supremacists.
Black undergraduates were not permitted to attend the University of Tennessee until 1961.

University of Mississippi
In the fall of 1962, Gov. Ross Barnett of Mississippi said, "I hereby direct each official to uphold segregation laws enacted by the state of Mississippi, regardless of the federal courts." In September, riots broke out at the University of Mississippi when James Meredith attempted to begin classes. U.S. Marshals fought against an estimated 3,000 racists, Klan members and university students until President Kennedy sent in U.S. Army troops.
After the riots, racial issued calmed at the university and Meredith graduated in 1963 without incident.

Franklin, Malone, Hood, Meredith and countless others faced adversity in the process toward desegregation. Some of the changes were made during violence, and others during protest. Today we can thank the heros of the 1960s south for total integration in schools, cafeterias, busses, and eventually everywhere else.

Desegregation Story

Cory Jasin

50^th Anniversary of Desgregation

JOUR 3150

On January 9, 1961, two future UGA graduates, one planning to study journalism at the Grady College, and a pre-med hopeful with the intention of studying science at the Franklin College, began their first week of classes surrounded by escorts because they just happened to be the first two black students at the newly desegregated University of Georgia.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes, respectively, both received suspensions “for their own safety” after only attending classes for a few days. The suspension did not last long, a new court order swiftly brought them back onto campus, where they would leave this mark on this university and their individual colleges for years to come.

Hunter-Gault applied to the University of Georgia, specifically to study journalism at the Grady College. “We are very fortunate that she wanted to come here,” said Dr. E. Cullpepper Clark, current Dean of Grady. “Journalism can not be practiced in an undemocratic society,” and the desegregation of the University and the admittance of Hunter-Gault into Grady was a form of ”liberation for journalism.”

Currently, according to Dr. Clark, Grady is “very active in the promotion of diversity” though they, as well as all other academic colleges at the University of Georgia, can only have a student body as diverse as what the University will allow as far as admissions. In addition to racial and cultural diversity, Grady still faces challenges with attracting a demographic that they have always been fighting for: males. Dr. Clark said that “more [males] need to be attracted to Grady degrees,” and admitted that they “have not succeeded in making it as attractive as it should be to guys.”

Looking to the future, Grady hopes to evolve with the campus and to become ever more diverse with each passing year. No matter what changes occur, Dr. Clark has hopes that it “remains committed to democracy, civic virtue, and engaging as it is today on a new frontier.”

Hamilton Holmes came to the University of Georgia as a transfer student from Morehouse College in Atlanta. A former valedictorian at Turner High School, Holmes would go on to be the first black medical student admitted to Emory University, but not before leaving his mark at the Franklin College here at UGA.

Holmes had wanted to be a doctor since he was a young child and has a long line of integrationists in his family, so being the first black male student at the University of Georgia held a lot of appeal for him.

It is “very significant” for Franklin that Holmes decided to come to Franklin at the University of Georgia, said Dr. Kecia Thomas, Senior Advisor to the Dean of Franklin. It is also very fitting since Franklin is the “college that attracts the most racial diversity” in regards to its students.

Franklin currently has an office solely devoted to diversity and leadership and Dr. Thomas heads up R.E.D., a diversity promotion program at Franklin. R.E.D. stands for “Research and engagement in diversity,” and, according to Dr. Thomas, strives to “promote value for diversity-based scholarship in college.” There is also an outreach program within R.E.D. that sponsors projects throughout Athens and the surrounding areas.

Dr. Thomas hopes that Franklin will continue to “lead the university” and provide greater outreach to the state community” in the years to come.

The University of Georgia and its colleges have come a long way since Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes were brave enough to fight for their education, but there is still much work to be done in order to further our diversity and create a fully united campus.

Sources: “An Education in Georgia” by Calvin Trillin

Integration and the SEC

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of desegregation at the University of Georgia, a multitude of organizations are hosting events, exhibits, and workshops to spotlight an incredible change in our campus history. The University of Georgia integrated in January of 1961, but what about other South Eastern Conference schools and their experiences in the shaky times of civil rights? How do the integration processes of other colleges compare to that of UGA in the tumultuous times of the 1960s and Jim Crow?

May 1954
With the ruling of the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court determined that segregation is unequal.

Auburn University
At Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, integration was happening smoothly. The first black student, Harold Franklin enrolled on January 4, 1964. Since the campus had been historically conservative, politically and socially, the students were barely affected by the radical movements of the 1960s.

University of Alabama
Vivian Malone and James Hood, two black students, ventured to integrate the University of Alabama in 1963. They were denied admission to the university by Gov. George C. Wallace, who famously vowed to protect segregation by “standing in the schoolhouse door.” President John F. Kennedy mobilized the Alabama National Guard, and Gov. Wallace was ordered to step aside as the students enrolled.
“You have the expert on the desegregation of Alabama right there in Athens,” says Rebecca Florence, Director of College Relations and Associate Director of Development in the College of Arts and Sciences at the university. “Culpepper Clark,” Florence insists. Florence cited Clark's book The Schoolhouse Door, in which he describes the historic setting, people, and events in the integration of the University of Alabama.

Tulane
“Tulane was desegregated in 1962,” says August Milton, Associate Director of the Office of Institutional Equity. During their integration, Tulane was a part of the SEC and left the conference in 1966.

University of Tennessee
In 1952, four black graduate students were admitted to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In 1957, while the state was making the change to integration, an integrated school in Nashville was blown up with dynamite by white supremacists. Black undergraduates were not permitted to attend the University of Tennessee until 1961.

University of Mississippi
In the fall of 1962, Gov. Ross Barnett of Mississippi said, "I hereby direct each official to uphold segregation laws enacted by the state of Mississippi, regardless of the federal courts." In September, riots broke out at the University of Mississippi when James Meredith attempted to begin classes. U.S. Marshals fought against an estimated 3,000 racists, Klan members, and university students until President Kennedy sent in U.S. Army troops. After the riots, racial issued calmed at the university and Meredith graduated in 1963 without incident.

Each of these colleges and universities faced much adversity in the process toward desegregation. Some of the changes were made during violence, and others during protest. Today we can thank the heros of the 1960s south for total integration in schools, cafeterias, busses, and eventually everywhere else.

brainstorming by holly

1) A story on Mary Frances Early, the first African American to recieve a degree from UGA.
2)Hamilton Holmes, the first African American male to study at UGA.
3)Charlayne Hunter, a very successful journalism graduate.
4) A story of all three people above and how they overcame the difficulties while here at UGA.
5)A story on how the desegregation movement started, how it launched and then was successful.
6) The first black athletes on campus and how they changed the college sports arena.
7) The formation of black sororities and fraternities. How they recruited new members, how many did they start with, what did they do together, ect.
8) What were dining areas like for these first African American students? What are some stories they can share about desegregation during its first moments?
9) How did the desegregation movement of UGA affect other universities in Georgia and around the country? Did it start a movement among high school as well?
10) When UGA started its desegregation movement, what was the rest of Georgia doing economically, socially, commercially, ect?
11) What has been the progression of black students here at UGA since the 1960s? (in percentages and numbers per year)
12) Some of the major accomplishments for UGA can be accredited to African Americans, what are those and how did they change UGA for the better?

Jordan's ideas

1. How long it took UGA to desegregate compared to other schools
2. Profile on Charlayne Hunter-Gault
3. Profile on Sara Loruuso, a faculty member who was in school here right after Charlayne graduated
4. How did students and faculty respond to desegregation
5. How has it changed the face of this university
6. How did the media play a role in the movement
7. What groups have been created or influenced by it
8. How have those groups responded to it and promoted things on campus
9. What promoted the desegregation on campus
10. How did this effect the students already on campus and those in the future.
11. Cover the Black History Kick-off event with speaker Bill Robbie, the first graduate of the College of Pharmacy
12. How did allowing African American's on campus help change their social, political and economical status in society