The first African-American students who came to the University faced multiple hardships. Under close scrutiny by the administration, faculty and students, they found solace in one another's triumphs. For Robert Bland, a student enrolled in the engineering school in the 1950s, that triumph was a degree from the University of Virginia -- the culmination of four years of hard work.
As a student, Bland found that many students, contrary to his expectations, did not harass him. Rather, he found himself ignored. Bland typically was the only African-American in all of his classes and was one of a handful at the University at the time. He was not a particularly good student and the University presented him with challenges both academically and socially. However, in the midst of one of the harshest eras of our country's history, Jim Crow, Bland graduated from a major Southern university.
African-American students who came after Bland looked to him for inspiration and, according to U.Va. folklore, adopted the phrase "Bobby stayed!" to help them get through difficult times. This phrase became so popular that many white students began to adopt it without any knowledge of Robert Bland or his experiences at the University. The retention rate of African-Americans at the University today, the highest of any public university, can be attributed, in part, to the first black students like Robert Bland who stayed at U.Va. paving the way for others.
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