The University of Arkansas’ history with desegregation

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The University of Arkansas has its first Black chancellor, but just 76 years ago he wouldn’t have been able to attend the school he heads.

Dr. Charles Robinson became the university’s seventh chancellor in November 2022 after he served in an interim capacity for 15 months.

“I am the chancellor of the University of Arkansas, which is another expression of the university being very different than it was in 1948,” Robinson said.

“As somebody who, you know, is pioneering almost maybe in the vein of those who have come before him at the university in similar capacities, the university has much to learn from him,” said Dr. Caree Banton when talking about Robinson.

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According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, it was January 1948 when Arkansas became the first white Southern university since Reconstruction to admit Black students.

“This is before Brown V. Board of Education. That kind of forced this thing to happen,” said Banton, who chairs the history department and African and African American studies at UA.

Arkansas’ legislature approved the establishment of the Fayetteville-based college as a land-grant university in 1871. At the time of its founding, it was known as the Arkansas Industrial University, and it was started with a signature by a Black man.

“Joseph Carter Corbin was the first secretary of education for lack of a better way of describing him… he was an African American and he’s actually responsible for signing the charter that created the University of Arkansas,” the chancellor said.

When Corbin signed the charter, it was during the Reconstruction era, according to Robinson. “You had African Americans in positions of authority that you wouldn’t have, say, 20, 30 years later,” he said.

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One of the first students to enroll in the school was a Black man named James McGahee who attended until his studies were cut short in 1873 by the end of Reconstruction.

“After that, there was a movement away from allowing African Americans to attend schools with whites, as it was throughout the entire South,” Robinson explained.

“This is Jim Crow era where segregation is coming into being,” Banton said.

It was more than seven decades before another Black student was accepted to attend UA.

Clifford Davis applied to the all-white university’s school of law in 1946 but initially was denied entry.

Davis reapplied and was accepted in the fall of 1947 under the conditions he learned in a separate classroom and did not use accommodations used by white students.

Ultimately, he chose to instead attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he graduated in 1949 before he came back to Arkansas where he passed the bar exam.

“He originally wanted to come here but he was concerned, rightfully so, about the atmosphere. I mean, if you have to petition… or threaten to sue to be allowed into an institution, that does not suggest that it is likely to be a welcoming institution,” Robinson said.

In 1948, an African American named Silas Hunt, known as a pioneer in the integration of higher education, started attending the University of Arkansas.

“Silas Hunt was a trailblazer,” Robinson said. “It required courage to be the first African American to come to this campus to study on this campus.”

By this time, Hunt was a World War II veteran. He had been drafted by the U.S. Army but was honorably discharged after he was wounded.

“He had to have some sense that he would have to encounter significant degrees of loneliness, challenges, maybe direct challenges to his presence here but he was willing to take that on… he laid the foundation for the six pioneers who were the other African American law students who followed him,” Robinson said.

The six pioneers include Hunt, Jackie Shropshire, George Haley, Christopher Mercer, Wiley Branton and George Howard Jr. All but Hunt graduated from the University as he died of tuberculosis in 1949.

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While Hunt’s name is inscribed on the university’s admissions building, his time spent attending the school was anything but inclusive.

“Even though the university accepted them, there wasn’t a full acceptance of their sense of their whole being.” Banton continued, “There was segregation in town and in the university… A lot of the early students had to live in the Black community because they couldn’t live on campus.”

Banton described the experience of the six pioneers during the late 40s and early 50s on the campus as isolating as they didn’t have the same access to education as their white classmates.

“It’s without a doubt great bravery, the resilience that they had to have and that they had to exercise in order to survive that,” Banton said.

“That does not exist on this campus now… if you want to be alone, you have to try to be alone,” said Robinson comparing what the campus is like in 2024 versus when the six pioneers were enrolled.

Blytheville native Markese Mullins can attest to that. He graduated in December 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in social work, and he’s proud to call the University of Arkansas his alumni.

“Being here has honestly been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I wouldn’t choose any other university,” he said.

However, Mullins did mention that he got pushback from some when he shared his intentions to attend the university to get his graduate degree. He recalled a conversation with his family where they said, “There may be some racism going on… is this what you want to do?”

“I’ve never experienced anything like that here on campus myself. Speaking for myself, I can’t speak for every Black or, you know, [person of color] on campus,” Mullins said.

Banton wasn’t surprised to hear that even in the early 2020s, these discussions are still happening within the households of Black Arkansans as she pointed to the university’s enrollment numbers.

“We’re a state of 17.4% African Americans and we’re still struggling around 4.4% enrollment,” Banton said.

That said, Mullins found the campus to be welcoming to students no matter their skin color or background.

“To be on that same playing field as any other person on this university and being able to have the same opportunities as everyone else has honestly been one of the greatest things I could have ever experienced,” he said.

When asked why she would encourage Black Arkansans to attend the university, Banton said, “After having been kept out for so long, if your money is paying for a public land grant institution… why shouldn’t it be on your list of options?

There’s no denying the university has made great strides since only allowing entry to white students in the early 1900s, but Robinson said more still needs to be done.

“We can never take our foot off the pedal. We’ve got to continue to better ensure that this is a campus that embraces all people regardless of their backgrounds, regardless of ethnicity, because we’re one Razorback family,” Robinson said.

Having the first Black chancellor is a testament to just how far the University of Arkansas has come, but it’s not the color of his skin that Robinson wants to be remembered by once he’s no longer heading the school.

“I’m a historian, so I think about legacy a lot, and I’m not interested in buildings that carry my name… What I want is to leave here and know that I’ve made a difference in what we’re talking about here. That students, regardless of their background, particularly poor students, have a greater sense of that equal opportunity on this campus,” he said.

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