Several of the University's first black students in the 1950s and 1960s returned to Grounds Friday to speak about their past University experiences, the challenges they faced and the institutional changes they have seen since departing Charlottesville.\n"The Early Days Celebration" began with a discussion panel, titled "Looking Back, Moving Forward," which was held Friday.\n"Today we honor those who made it, who could get in, and who went on to do great things with their lives," said Maurice Apprey, dean of the Office of African-American Affairs, in his opening statement.\nPanelists included 1969 graduate David Temple, who was the first black student to integrate the fraternity system; John Merchant, the first black student to graduate from the Law school in 1958; and Dr. Vivian Pinn of the class of 1967, the first black woman to graduate from the medical school.\nThe discussion featured accounts of racism that students had experienced during their time here. Linwood Jacobs, who earned his master's degree in education from the University in 1966, noted that a professor once told him in 1965 that he was innately inferior and that he could not receive anything more than the bare passing grade.\nPinn recalled that a fellow student had told her she would never graduate not only because she was black but because women had smaller brains, and so she was wasting a space that could have been taken by a man.\nTemple said before deciding to join an integrated fraternity, he chose to meet with then-Univeristy Dean B.F.D. Runk.\n"Runk told me no [N word] would enter the frat system, and he would do his best to make sure it didn't happen," Temple said.\nDespite the challenging times, panelists had different reasons for attending the University at a time when racism was so prevalent.\nTemple, who was extensively involved in the Civil Rights Movement, said attending the University provided another way to break down social barriers.\nMerchant, on the other hand, said he was hesitant to come to the University.\n"At first I had no interest in coming here, and I certainly didn't want to pioneer a damn thing," he said.\nAlthough each attended the University for different reasons, the panelists agreed about how far the University has come since the 1950s and about how there is still work to be done.\n"We have come a great distance since those early days," moderator and English Prof. Deborah McDowell said. "We all know and tout the statistics that this university has the highest matriculation rate for African-American students among all public universities, but this should not give cause for complacency."\nJacobs said he witnessed changes even during his time at the University, and despite all his difficult experiences, was offered a position when he earned his doctorate in education in 1973.\nH. Timothy Lovelace, graduate Arts and Sciences student and one of the panelists Friday, applauded the work done by early black pioneers, noting that their work paved the way for future generations, not only for black students but for other minority students as well.\nMcDowell said the panel accomplished two goals.\n"It indicated to all students the fortitude it takes to achieve one's objectives, and that these objectives can be achieved even under straightening circumstances," she said. "It also provided the audience with a concrete sense of the experiences of the African-American alumni at a moment of great social turmoil."\nThe Early Days Celebration continued with an honorary dinner Friday evening at Carr's Hill, and the alumni also attended the football game Saturday in President John T. Casteen, III's private box.
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