Timeline

Black Milestones in Higher Education

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1955 to 1975

1955    Elizabeth Lipford Kent becomes the first African American nurse to earn a Ph.D. (University of Michigan).

1956    Emmett Bassett becomes the first African American to earn a doctorate in Dairy Technology (Ohio State University). Wilberforce University, the first Black institution of higher learning owned and operated by African Americans.

1957    Edward S. Cooper becomes the first African American tenured physician-professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

1958     Charlie L. Yates becomes the first African American to graduate from Virginia Tech (B.S., Mechanical Engineering). Clifton Wharton (who in 1987 became to first African American to head a Fortune 100 company) becomes the first African American to earn a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago.

1959    Nancy Street becomes the first African American "Miss Indiana University." Cheyney State Teachers College changes its name to Cheyney State College and offers the Bachelor of Arts degree and the Bachelor of Science degree. Wally Terry graduates from Brown University after having served as the first African American editor of the Brown Daily Herald. American College Testing (ACT) is formed as a rival to the SAT.

1960    Tom Atkins becomes the first African American student body president at Indiana University. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced "snick") is founded at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, to coordinate sit-ins and support student activism against segregation. The University of California system begins to require applicants to have taken the SAT.

1961     Harvey Gantt becomes the first African American applicant admitted to Clemson University (in South Carolina). In 1965 Gantt would graduate with honors, having earned a bachelors degree in Architecture.

1962    Gloria Conyers Hewitt becomes one of the first U.S. Black Women to receive a Ph.D. in Mathematics (University of Washington, Seattle).

1963     Verdelle Bellamy and Allie Saxon enroll in nursing school, becoming the first full-time African American students at Emory University. Later that same year, both women become Emory's first African American graduates.

1964    Dr. Ervin S. Perry becomes the first African American professor The University of Texas. Arlene Bennett becomes the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Tougaloo College and Brown University establish a student exchange program .

1965     On May 30th of this year Vivian Malone Jones becomes the first African American graduate of the University of Alabama.

1966    Dr. Samuel P. Massie becomes the first African American professor at the U.S. Naval Academy (Chemistry). On June 3rd of this year, Maxwell Scarlett becomes the first African American student to graduate from the University of Texas at Arlington (B.S. in Biology). Merle J. Smith becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT.

1967    Percy A. Pierre becomes the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (The Johns Hopkins University). Reuben Anderson becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi School of Law. Patty Burnette is voted "Miss MSU" by the undergraduates of Michigan State University. Richmond Professional Institute hires its first three full-time African American faculty members, Dr. Grace Harris (Social Work), Dr. Rizpah Welch (Education) and Regina Perry (School of the Arts). In 1968 Richmond Professional Institute merges with the Medical College of Virginia to become Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Samuel M. Nabrit becomes the first African American trustee of Brown University. Black Brown University undergraduates established the Afro-American Society.

1968    The University of Texas offers its first Black Studies course, "The Negro in American Culture." Cheyney State College in Pennsylvania initiates its graduate program. San Francisco State University becomes the first 4-year college in the United States to establish a Black Studies department. In June of this year Venus Romance Jones becomes the first African American graduate of Mary Washington College. Jones went on to graduate from UVA medical school in 1972. Errol Gaston Hill joins the faculty of Dartmouth College, where he chaired the drama department and went on to become the first African American professor to earn tenure at that institution. Martin Kilson becomes the first African American faculty member to receive full tenure at Harvard University (Government).

1969    Clarence A. Ellis becomes the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in Computer Science (University of Illinois). Raymond Johnson (B.A., Mathematics, University of Texas) becomes the first African American to earn a degree from Rice University (Ph.D., Mathematics). In January of this year, Dr. Blanche Martin, a graduate of the class of 1959, becomes the first African American member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees. Virginia Commonwealth University offers its first courses in African American Studies. African American students on the Newark campus of Rutgers University (Rutgers-Newark) barricade the doors to Conklin Hall to protest the institutions failure to increase the population of Black faculty, students, and staff. The Ford Foundation gives $1 million dollars to three U.S. universities (Howard University, Morgan State University, and Yale University) to support faculty development in the field of African American studies. A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. becomes Yale University's first Black trustee. Jay Saunders Redding becomes the first African American member of the Brown University Board of Fellows. A small group of Black students at Yale University establish the Afro-American cultural center, a gathering place for people of African descent at the University. Ewart Guinier becomes the first chair of the Afro-American studies department at Harvard University. In response to student unrest and Black student demands, African American studies departments and programs are established at Cornell University, Ohio State University, Brown University, Temple University, Yale University,  Rutgers University, and Wesleyan University. Vassar college establishes an inter-departmental minor in Afro-American studies and hires Milfred. C. Fierce as the first director of Black Studies.

1970    Charles D. Forster becomes the first African American to graduate from The Citadel. In January of this year, Dr. Clifton R. Wharton begins his eight-year presidency of Michigan State University, and the first African American president of a Major U.S. University. Jim Elam is elected as the first African American president of Virginia Commonwealth University's Student Government Association President. Raymond Gavins becomes the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia (History). Elaine Jones becomes the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Virginia's Law School. In response to student demands, University of Minnesota establishes the Department African American & African Studies. Morgan State University's "Ten Bears" become the first and only Black college lacrosse team in the history of the United States. The school dropped lacrosse in 1981. Nathaniel Owens becomes the first African American to graduate from Sewanee, The University of the South. Owens graduated with honors in English. Drafted right out of college by the Cincinnati Bengals, Owens decided to forgo a professional football career, choosing instead to enroll in Sewanee's law school. Nathaniel Owens becomes the first African American to graduate from Sewanee, The University of the South. Owens graduated with honors in English. Drafted right out of college by the Cincinnati Bengals, Owens decided to forgo a professional football career, choosing instead to enroll in Sewanee’s law school. Kathryn Morgan becomes the first African American faculty member at Swarthmore College.

1971    Derrick Bell becomes the first African American professor at Harvard Law School. The Afro-American Studies Program is formed at Virginia Commonwealth University. In the spring of this  year, the University of California at Berkeley graduated its first class of Afro-American studies majors. Kellis E. Parker becomes the first full-time Black law professor at Columbia University.

1972     Marian Wright Edelman becomes the first African American female elected to the Yale Corporation. Northwestern University establishes an African American Student Affairs Office.

1973    Dr. Franklin Knight joins the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University. Knight goes on to become the first African American faculty member to receive tenure at this institution. Shirley Ann Jackson becomes the first African American female to receive a Ph.D. in MIT (theoretical solid state physics).  Dr. John Hope Franklin becomes the first African American elected to the president of the Phi Beta Kappa, the nations top honor society (founded in 1776).

1974    Dr. A. C. Wharton becomes the first African American professor on the faculty at the University of Mississippi School of Law. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign establishes an African American Studies and Research Program.