Georgia State's 'Ground Crew' to receive honorary degrees
Nov. 10—ATLANTA — The University System of Georgia's Board of Regents unanimously approved honorary degrees for Georgia State's "Ground Crew" — the three women who worked tirelessly to desegregate Georgia State University.
Despite a federal desegregation mandate and the U.S. Supreme Court's watershed ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, public colleges and universities in Georgia remained racially segregated in 1956. Despite this, three black women — Myra Payne Elliott, Barbara Pace Hunt and Iris Mae Welch — applied to attend the Georgia State College of Business Administration (now Georgia State University). They were denied admission.
Rather than accept this discriminatory treatment, they accepted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's invitation to be plaintiffs in a groundbreaking lawsuit that would open the doors of Georgia's public colleges and universities to applicants of all races. The pivotal case, Hunt v. Arnold, was not without consequence or personal sacrifice.
"These courageous women changed the course of history and were each trailblazers in their own right," Georgia State President M. Brian Blake said. "The conferral of these degrees honors their legacies and recognizes their roles to end segregation in the University System of Georgia. We are deeply grateful to them and are honored to give them the recognition they so richly deserve."
Though the ruling changed the landscape of opportunity and access for African American applicants at other colleges and universities, these three women never realized their dreams of attending Georgia State.
Georgia State will honor Elliott, 90, with a degree and confer posthumous degrees to the late Hunt and Welch at the university's December commencement.
