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Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1933–1955

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.

In briefIn 1933 Thomas Raymond Hocutt, a 24-year-old Black man from Durham, went to court to compel Dean of Admissions Thomas J. Wilson Jr. to admit him to the University's school of pharmacy; Judge M. V. Barnhill denied the writ of mandamus on March 28, and the Weekly noted that no state school for Black students taught pharmacy or law. On December 14, 1938 Dean W. W. Pierson rejected Pauli Murray's application to the graduate school because of her race, and her appeals to President Frank Porter Graham became national news. 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.

Read the 27 eventsAll storylines

55 works about Desegregating the University of North Carolina, 1933–1955 are indexed here. 1 held at OCPL →

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Manning Hall, home of UNC's School of Law in the 1950s
Manning Hall, home of UNC's School of Law in the 1950s

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 27 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Thomas Hocutt sues to enter the University's school of pharmacy and is refused Thomas Raymond Hocutt, a 24-year-old Black man from Durham, went to court to compel Dean of Admissions Thomas J. Wilson Jr. to admit him to the University's school of pharmacy. Judge M. V. Barnhill denied the writ of mandamus on March 28; the Weekly reported that the NAACP was said to back the suit and noted that no state school for Black students taught pharmacy or law.The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 31, 1933, p. 4
  2. UNC rejects Pauli Murray's graduate application 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. People: Frank Porter Graham, Pauli Murray, Howard W. OdumNational Humanities Center: Pauli Murray, "Members of Your Race Are Not Admitted" (Song in a Weary Throat, 1987, ch. 11) · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 6, 1939, p. 1
  3. An interracial meeting at the Graham Memorial asks the legislature to open graduate study to Black students More than 100 white and Black citizens, students and teachers met at the Graham Memorial and adopted a resolution asking the legislature to let qualified Black students do graduate and professional work through the institutions the state already had, rather than in new separate schools. The Weekly reported that Professor E. J. Woodhouse and others protested sending any resolution, while chairman William L. Borders said the protest was against sending it, not its substance; the resolution went to the legislature.The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 24, 1939, p. 2
  4. University law professors agree to staff the reopening law school of the North Carolina College for Negroes The law school of the North Carolina College for Negroes in Durham, suspended a week after its September 1939 opening because only one qualified student enrolled, was to reopen in September 1940 with University law professors M. T. Van Hecke, J. P. Dalzell, F. B. McCall and R. H. Wettach teaching until Black teachers could be recruited. Van Hecke said every effort would be made to give Black students the same opportunities for legal education as the University offered. People: Robert H. WettachThe Chapel Hill Weekly, April 12, 1940, p. 4
  5. Black law students sue to enter UNC's Law School 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. People: Floyd B. McKissick, Harvey E. Beech, J. Kenneth LeeUNC School of Law, Law School First: Lawsuits
  6. UNC admits Edward O. Diggs, its first Black medical student UNC mailed Edward O. Diggs of Winston-Salem, a pre-medical student at A&T College in Greensboro, his letter of admission to the School of Medicine under the trustees' April 4, 1951 policy. He enrolled in the fall of 1951. People: W. Reece Berryhill, Gordon Gray, R. B. HouseThe Daily Tar Heel: A&T Student Becomes First To Enter UNC, April 25, 1951
  7. Dean Brandis handles the applications of Pauli Murray and three other Black students to the law school After the trustees left admissions to each professional school's dean, Brandis wrote Chancellor R. B. House about four Black applicants, Pauli Murray, J. Kenneth Lee, Harvey E. Beech and William C. Chance Jr., and on June 6 told Murray the school offered no graduate law courses. The UNC Libraries exhibit reads these letters as showing the law school resisting integration. People: Pauli Murray, R. B. House, J. Kenneth Lee, Harvey E. BeechSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, 1951: Murray inquiry about law school admissions
  8. UNC Law School begins desegregation 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. People: Floyd B. McKissick, Harvey E. Beech, J. Kenneth LeeChapel Hill Weekly (June 15, 1951): Negroes Enter University
  9. Gwendolyn Harrison becomes the first Black woman admitted to UNC Gwendolyn Lolita Harrison of Kinston was admitted to the graduate school, the first Black woman admitted to the university.Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), September 30, 1980, p. 2
  10. Black students sit with whites at a UNC football game for the first time After fourteen student organizations, the Daily Tar Heel and student body president Henry Bowers protested to Chancellor Robert House, the first Black students were given regular student seat passbooks instead of seats in the colored section, and they sat with white students at a UNC football game. People: R. B. HouseBlack Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), September 16, 1980, p. 3
  11. UNC law students vote to hold their spring dance unsegregated After the trustees adopted a policy in January 1952 requiring segregated dances on campus, the law students voted 82 to 63 to hold their annual spring dance without segregation. The dance was held off campus, with several Black couples attending.Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), September 30, 1980, p. 2
  12. Harvey Beech and J. Kenneth Lee graduate from UNC's law school 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. People: J. Kenneth LeeSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Harvey E. Beech Papers, 1939-2004 (#05465-z), finding aid
Show all 27 dated events
  1. Edward O. Diggs becomes UNC's first Black medical graduate Edward O. Diggs graduated from the UNC School of Medicine in 1955, the first African American to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree from the university. James Slade, the school's second Black student, had enrolled in 1953.The Carolina Story: First Black Graduate Students
  2. First Black undergraduates enter UNC 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. People: Floyd B. McKissick, LeRoy Frasier, Ralph Frasier, John Lewis BrandonChapel Hill Weekly (September 20, 1955): Negro Students Are Attending Classes
  3. Moses C. Burt Jr. is one of the first three Black students admitted to UNC law as first-year students Moses C. Burt Jr., son of Orange County farm agent Moses Burt and Ridge Road principal Alethea Burt, entered the UNC School of Law in fall 1955 as one of the first three African American students admitted straight into its first-year class. Three other Black students who enrolled that fall transferred from other programs.NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ridge Road School, National Register nomination (OR1104), p. 17
  4. A university official says the Supreme Court's golf-course ruling does not reach Finley Golf Course After the Supreme Court ruled that public parks and golf courses could not bar people by race, a university official named Erickson said the decision would not affect the 18-hole Finley Golf Course, because the course, though owned by the Athletic Association, was not a public course but was built and run for UNC students, faculty, alumni and their guests. He added that everyone in those groups could use it, as before.The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 1, 1955, p. 5
  5. Henry E. Frye is admitted to the UNC law school Henry E. Frye of Greensboro, later the first Black member of the North Carolina legislature since Reconstruction, was admitted to the UNC School of Law in fall 1956.Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), September 30, 1980, p. 2
  6. William B. Aycock serves as chancellor of UNC at Chapel Hill Aycock, on the law faculty at Chapel Hill since 1948, was chief administrator of the university there from July 1, 1957 until August 1964. His records cover desegregation, the state's speaker ban law and the Dixie Classic betting scandal.Search the index · UNC Libraries: Office of Chancellor, William Brantley Aycock Records, 1957-1964 (finding aid)
  7. The School of Public Health admits its first Black students For fifteen years the school had trained Black health educators through a separate program at North Carolina College in Durham. In 1960, with the civil rights movement pressing against segregation, those programs ended and Black students enrolled at Chapel Hill, at first in small numbers.Search the index · Robert Rodgers Korstad, Dreaming of a Time: The School of Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1939-1989 (1990), scan p. 63
  8. Karen Parker is arrested at a sit-in at Leo's restaurant Parker, UNC's first Black woman undergraduate and a CORE member, went with other demonstrators to Leo's, a segregated restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill, where they were arrested and taken to jail. She described it in her diary entry of December 18.Search the index · UNC University Archives, History on the Hill: Karen Parker: A Woman to Remember
  9. UNC ends racial segregation in its dormitories UNC ended segregation in its residence halls in 1964. Before then a Black and a white student could room together only if both agreed and had their parents' permission.Black Ink (Black Student Movement, UNC), September 30, 1980, p. 4
  10. Karen Parker becomes the first Black woman to earn an undergraduate degree at UNC 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. People: Karen Lynn ParkerUNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Carolina Firsts: Karen L. Parker
  11. Ruth Anderson Stephens becomes the first Black graduate of UNC's School of Nursing Ruth Anderson Stephens completed the School of Nursing's master's program in nursing education and administration in 1965, the school's first African American graduate.UNC School of Nursing: 75th Anniversary timeline
  12. J. Carlyle Sitterson serves as chief administrator of UNC at Chapel Hill Sitterson was the chief administrative officer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from February 16, 1966 to January 31, 1972. His records as chancellor cover desegregation and the federal HEW lawsuit, the Speaker Ban law, protest against the Vietnam War and campus unrest.Search the index · UNC Libraries: Office of Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Joseph Carlyle Sitterson Records, 1966-1972
  13. Hortense McClinton joins the UNC School of Social Work as the university's first Black faculty member McClinton turned down a grant-funded UNC offer in 1964 and accepted a better-funded position in the School of Social Work in July 1966. She was the only Black faculty member at UNC for three years.Search the index · UNC Libraries, University Archives blog For the Record: Noteworthy Firsts: Hortense McClinton
  14. Ralph Frasier speaks at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center Ralph Frasier, one of UNC's first three Black undergraduates, gave a free public talk in the Hitchcock Room of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. He had left the university in 1958 without a degree.Search the index · UNC News Archives: Frasier, who helped integrate UNC, to speak
  15. UNC names scholarships for its first Black undergraduates and other "firsts" At University Day, UNC named existing grants and fellowships for 21 people who were firsts in its history, among them John L. Brandon, Ralph K. Frasier and LeRoy B. Frasier Jr., its first Black undergraduates. People: John Lewis Brandon, Ralph Frasier, Carol L. FoltSearch the index · UNC-Chapel Hill: Carolina names scholarships to honor noteworthy 'firsts'

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 2 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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Indexed works

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

Filter these works by material, period, or place. Counts refer to works, not individual copies. A work may appear under more than one period or place.

Material

Histories 20Photographs & portraits 15Interviews 7Biography 6Letters & correspondence 1other types 5

Period

20th century 26World War II era 221st century 1

Place

North Carolina (statewide) 35Chapel Hill 24Orange County 22City of Durham (neighboring) 4Research Triangle 3Hillsborough 1

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

Kapur, Geeta · 2021

Geeta Kapur's history of race at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from the enslaved labor that built the campus through desegregation and the Black student protests that followed. Twelve chapters, with a foreword by William Barber II, move from the founding era and the Great Depression controversies to the state's response to integration and the turmoil of later decades; North Carolina Central University also figures. Published 2021 by Blair in Durham.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Library of Congress record: College integration -- North Carolina.

NC Cardinal UNC NC State NCCU Durham Chapel Hill PL Library of Congress UNCSA

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

Race, sports and student protest at UNC are the subjects of this fourth interview with law professor Daniel H. Pollitt, recorded February 15, 1991, by Ann McColl for the Southern Oral History Program. Pollitt discusses the integration of Carolina athletics, including basketball player Charlie Scott, the university's first Black scholarship athlete, the discrimination Black athletes met, student activism from the late 1950s through the 1960s, and the Campus Y. Published online in 2008 by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: College integration -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

NC Cardinal UNC

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 B. McKissick, Sr. (1922-1991), later head of the Congress of Racial Equality, recalls his early life in a Southern Oral History Program interview recorded May 31, 1989, by Bruce Kalk. McKissick recalls the racism he met growing up and while serving in the Army during World War II. The interview then turns to his law studies and his part in integrating UNC as one of the first Black students admitted to its law school. Published online in 2007 in Documenting the American South.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: College integration -- North Carolina.

NC Cardinal UNC

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

Blanchard, Gary F. · 1964

Gary F. Blanchard's 1964 case study of desegregation and municipal decision-making in Chapel Hill, 106 pages plus 29 unnumbered leaves. Taking in race relations, segregation and college integration in Chapel Hill, it examines how the town's government handled desegregation in the years when civil rights protests were pressing Chapel Hill's businesses and public places.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: College integration -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

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

Neal Cheek's 1973 study of how the administration of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill handled racial desegregation between 1930 and 1955, the years leading up to and through the admission of the first Black students. It also treats the law school at North Carolina College at Durham, which the state opened as a separate law school for Black students. 227 leaves with a bibliographic essay.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NCCU record: College integration -- North Carolina.

UNC NCCU

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

McMillan, Hannah · 2013

Hannah McMillan's account of desegregation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published in 2013 as a chapter running from page 112 to page 131. Topics include African American students at Chapel Hill, college integration in North Carolina and the history of the university, placing the piece within the record of Black students entering the campus.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: College integration -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

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

Robert W. Scott (1929-2009), North Carolina's governor between 1969 and 1973 and son of Governor Kerr Scott, interviewed by William Link on April 4, 1990 for the Southern Oral History Program. Scott discusses his student years at North Carolina State College in the early 1950s and his dealings with university president William Friday, including the food workers' strike at Chapel Hill, college integration, and the consolidation of the state's universities into the UNC System during his term. One hour thirty-seven minutes. Electronic edition 2007.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: College integration -- North Carolina.

NC Cardinal UNC

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 (born 1923), one of the first African American students at the UNC School of Law, interviewed by Anita Foye on September 25, 1996 for the Southern Oral History Program. He describes growing up in Kinston, youngest of five children of a barber who never learned to read but built a chain of shops that put his children through college, then his legal education at Chapel Hill and career as a lawyer and civil rights advocate. One hour thirty-four minutes. Electronic edition 2007.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Beech, Harvey E., 1923- -- Interviews.

NC Cardinal UNC

Oral history interview with Joseph Califano, April 5, 1991

Califano, Joseph A. · 2007

An interview from April 5, 1991, published in 2007, with Joseph A. Califano, Jr., who led the federal Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The conversation covers college integration in North Carolina, federal and state controversies over it, and the dispute between the Office for Civil Rights and the university system that William Friday directed from Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: College integration -- North Carolina.

NC Cardinal

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

Chambers, Julius L. · 2007

Julius L. Chambers, the attorney and later university administrator, interviewed on June 18, 1990 and published in 2007. Topics include college integration in North Carolina, affirmative action in education, the work of college trustees and litigation involving the University of North Carolina system, matters that ran through William Friday's Chapel Hill offices.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: College integration -- North Carolina.

NC Cardinal

Sex discrimination & the presence of covering in Kenan-Flagler undergraduates

Sulzer, Sandra Hannah · 2006

Sandra Hannah Sulzer's 2006 study of sex discrimination and of covering among undergraduates at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, the business school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Topics include sex discrimination in higher education at Chapel Hill and the school's students. The bibliography runs on leaves 73 to 76.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Sex discrimination in higher education -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

UNC

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

Hopkins, Peggy Richmond · 1973

Peggy Richmond Hopkins studied how African American students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill used the university's student personnel services, writing in 1973 with a bibliography at the back. One hundred nine leaves. Topics include higher education, educational counseling and the university's Division of Student Affairs.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: African Americans -- Education (Higher) -- North Carolina.

UNC

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Picture: Manning Hall, home of UNC's School of Law in the 1950s. CC BY 2.0. Photograph by benuski; via Wikimedia Commons

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