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Named event or history

Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1951–1955

Five Black students began law school classes on June 22, 1951, after the courts barred the university from refusing them; the first Black undergraduates, the Frasier brothers and John Brandon, followed in 1955.

28 indexed records are connected with this event.

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Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

To Drink from the Well: The Struggle for Racial Equality at the Nation’s Oldest University

Kapur, Geeta · 2021 · Blair

Foreword / by Rev. Dr. William Barber II -- Chapter 1: New Hope Chapel Hill -- Chapter 2: The Black Wall Street of America -- Chapter 3: The Great Depression controversies -- Chapter 4: Hot as blazes -- Chapter 5: The u…

Oral history interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, February 15, 1991: interview L-0064-4, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

Pollitt, Daniel H. · 2008 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

This is the fourth interview in a nine-part series of interviews with civil liberties lawyer Daniel H. Pollitt. In this interview, Pollitt discusses his thoughts on race and athletics at UNC, as well as his involvement …

Oral history interview with Floyd B. McKissick, Sr., May 31, 1989: interview L-0040, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)

McKissick, Floyd B. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Floyd McKissick was born into a prominent black family in North Carolina. The racism he witnessed and experienced during his formative years and early adulthood--including during his tenure in the Army--had a profound i…

The Politics of Desegregation: A Case Study of Desegregation and Municipal Decision-Making in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Blanchard, Gary F. · 1964

UNC

An Historical Study of the Administrative Actions in the Racial Desegregation of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1930-1955

Cheek, Neal · 1973

Challenging Jim Crow : desegregation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

McMillan, Hannah · 2013

UNC
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Oral history interview with Bob Scott, April 4, 1990 interview L-0193, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).

Scott, Robert Walter · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

The son of former governor Kerr Scott (1949-1953), Robert W. Scott served as governor of North Carolina from 1969 to 1973. He begins the interview with a brief discussion of his education at North Carolina State Univers…

Oral history interview with Harvey E. Beech, September 25, 1996 interview J-0075, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).

Beech, Harvey E. · 2007 · University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill

Harvey E. Beech was born in Kinston, North Carolina, in 1923, the youngest of five children. Although Beech's father could not read or write, he saved his money and opened barbershops throughout the Kinston community. H…

The use of student personnel services by black students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Hopkins, Peggy Richmond · 1973

UNC

Oral history interview with Joseph Califano, April 5, 1991

Califano, Joseph A. · 2007

Oral history interview with Julius L. Chambers, June 18, 1990

Chambers, Julius L. · 2007

Carolina Black Caucus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1973-2013.

Carolina Black Caucus (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) · 1973

UNC

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7 dated entries
  1. UNC rejects Pauli Murray's graduate application

    Chapel Hill

    Pauli Murray, who grew up in Durham and lived in New York, applied to UNC's graduate school in 1938 to study with Howard Odum and Guy B. Johnson. On December 14, two days after the Supreme Court's Gaines ruling, Dean W. W. Pierson rejected her because of her race, and her appeals to President Frank Porter Graham became national news.

    Part of Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1951–1955 · 5 events

    People: Frank Porter Graham · Pauli Murray

  2. Black law students sue to enter UNC's Law School

    Court or legal action · Chapel Hill

    On October 25, 1949, Harold Epps and other law students at North Carolina College in Durham sued for admission to UNC's law school. A federal district court ruled against them on October 9, 1950, but the Fourth Circuit reversed on March 27, 1951, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the university's appeal on June 4, 1951.

    Part of Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1951–1955 · 5 events

    People: Floyd B. McKissick · Harvey E. Beech · J. Kenneth Lee

  3. UNC Law School begins desegregation

    Founding or opening · Chapel Hill

    About a week after the Supreme Court refused on June 4, 1951, to review McKissick v. Carmichael, Black students registered for summer session at UNC's law school, the first African Americans to enroll at the university. UNC Law names them as Harvey E. Beech, James L. Lassiter, J. Kenneth Lee, Floyd B. McKissick and James R. Walker.

    Part of Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1951–1955 · 5 events

    People: Floyd B. McKissick · Harvey E. Beech · J. Kenneth Lee

  4. Desegregating the University of North Carolina

    Storyline · 5 events · Chapel Hill

    After a 1951 federal court decision in McKissick v. Carmichael, five Black students began law school classes at UNC on June 22, 1951. In September 1955, again under court order, LeRoy and Ralph Frasier and John Lewis Brandon of Durham registered as the university's first Black undergraduates.

  5. Harvey Beech and J. Kenneth Lee graduate from UNC's law school

    Graduation · UNC School of Law, Chapel Hill

    A year after they entered as the first Black students at UNC's law school, Harvey Beech and J. Kenneth Lee received their law degrees. UNC also lists James Robert Walker among the 1952 graduates.

  6. First Black undergraduates enter UNC

    Chapel Hill

    LeRoy and Ralph Frasier and John Lewis Brandon, all of Durham, became UNC's first Black undergraduates when they began classes on September 19, 1955. A three-judge federal court in Greensboro had ordered the university on September 10 to process their applications, and they registered in the General College.

    Part of Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1951–1955 · 5 events

    People: Floyd B. McKissick

  7. Karen Parker becomes the first Black woman to earn an undergraduate degree at UNC

    Education milestone · Chapel Hill

    Karen L. Parker, who transferred from the Woman's College in Greensboro in 1963 as UNC's first Black woman undergraduate, graduated in journalism in 1965. She was the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from the University, and as a student she joined Chapel Hill sit-ins and was arrested in December 1963.

    Part of Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1951–1955 · 5 events

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