As the Civil War and slavery drew to a close in Virginia, the General Assembly voted to observe segregation in public education. This policy ensured that the University would remain predominantly white for many years.
In 1882, Virginia State College was founded as a means of alternate higher education for blacks. VSC was considered the "black U.Va." Its presence ensured that blacks seeking degrees in higher education could be denied acceptance into the University of Virginia without a commotion.
In 1935, Alice Jackson became the first black applicant to U.Va., desiring a master's degree in French. She was denied for her gender, her race and "other good and sufficient reasons." The next year, the General Assembly passed a law requiring U.Va. to admit any student who wished to pursue a field of study unavailable at an alternate Virginia institution. In response, the Board of Visitors passed a resolution allowing U.Va. to offer black students a scholarship to Howard University. Between 1936 and 1938 over 400 African-American students took advantage of this program. Among these students was Douglas Wilder, who later became the first black Governor of the Commonwealth.
The University admitted its first black student, Gregory Swanson, in 1950. The hostile environment in the Law School, however, forced Swanson to leave after less than a year. The University was forced to change its general admissions policy following Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. In 1953, Dr. Walter Ridley received a doctorate of education, becoming the University's first black graduate. The environment in the University community, however, did not become more accepting toward blacks until late in the 1960s.
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