As Black History Month is celebrated and observed, we turn our focus to an important milestone in the history of UTC: desegregating the campus. Integration was slow at higher education institutions across the South, and there was some resistance as schools integrated African-American students into their student bodies. In the mid-1960s, when our university was not yet a part of the UT system, the process of desegregation began.
Some African-Americans had attempted to enroll at the university on its opening day in 1886, and had good reason to believe they’d be welcome, as the school was partially sponsored by the Freedmen’s Aid Society. They were not admitted, however, and the unofficial policy of declining African-Americans would last for over seventy-five years. In the early 1960s, the University of Chattanooga, then led by President Leroy Martin, announced that the school would integrate-a move that was received positively by most, including the university newspaper, The Echo. The university first admitted a graduate student, Horace Traylor in the mid 1960s and, over the next few years, African-American under-graduates were also admitted.
The integration process at UTC will be documented in a special event next Tuesday night, February 28 at 7pm in the University Center Auditorium. At this event, a documentary film, “Reaching the Light: The Story of Desegregation of the University of Chattanooga” will premier and the experiences of the first African-American students at the university will finally be told. More information, about the premier can be found here: Documentary Premier.
Post written by Steve Cox and Chapel Cowden.
I’m always sorry I live in Texas when you post about exhibits and upcoming events, especially one as interesting as this. Did Special Collections provide photos for the film? Also, do you know if the full movie will be available online eventually? As a native Chattanoogan and archivist, I really appreciate the discussions about your collections and the history of the university and the city. (Also, the day in the life blog made me feel better about the randomness of my day!)
So nice to hear from you, Laurel! The Special Collections did in fact provide a good deal of photographs for the documentary and much of the historical background in the documentary was gleaned from our university history archive. We do not currently know the future plans for the film, but I will check with the film director/producer and leave another comment here to let you know about its future.
It’s good to hear that you have enjoyed our posts. We plan, at some point, to try to give very small versions of our physical exhibits online-just to give folks a taste of the materials in the exhibits (& also for those who can’t make it in).
If you would rather me contact you personally with information about the documentary, just send me an email at chapel-cowden@utc.edu and I would be happy to keep you posted. I would be really interested to hear about your archival work in Texas too. Cheers!