First Black Graduate Students

From left to right: Floyd McKissick, J. Kenneth Lee, Harvey Beech, and James Lassiter. 

First Graduate Students

School of Law

In June 1951, following a succesful legal challenge, Harvey Beech, James Lassiter, J. Kenneth Lee, Floyd McKissick, and James R. Walker, Jr. became the first Black students to enroll at UNC-Chapel Hill. McKissick, Beech, Lassiter, and Lee were named in the case, McKissick et al. v. Carmichael et al., in which they argued that the education and training they would obtain at the law school at the North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University) was not equivalent to that they would be able to receive at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Sources:

• "Law School First - the African Americans Who Integrated UNC-Chapel Hill." Kathrine R. Everett Law Library. https://integration.law.unc.edu/
• Harvey E. Beech. From Carolina Law Oral History Project: https://oralhistoriesproject.law.unc.edu/oral-histories/harvey-e-beech/
• John Kenneth Lee. From Carolina Law Oral History Project: https://oralhistoriesproject.law.unc.edu/oral-histories/john-kenneth-lee/

Edward O. Diggs (left) and James Slade. Diggs and Slade were the first two Black students to attend to the UNC School of Medicine. Diggs enrolled in 1951, Slade in 1953.

School of Medicine

Edward O. Diggs was the first Black student to be admitted to UNC-Chapel Hill. His admission was announced in April 1951, but he did not enroll until the fall semester that year. Diggs's admission followed a decision by the UNC Board of Trustees to admit qualified Black students to graduate programs when there was not an equivalent program at one of North Carolina's state-supported historically Black colleges and universities.

Diggs graduated from the School of Medicine in 1955.

Sources:

• Daily Tar Heel, 25 April 1951. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073228/1951-04-25/ed-1/seq-1/
  

Gwendolyn Harrison, 1951. From the Johnson C. Smith University Yearbook.

College of Arts and Sciences

Gwendolyn Harrison wanted to pursue a PhD at UNC-Chapel Hill, so she applied and was accepted into the Spanish program. Upon arrival  in June 1951, her admission was revoked because she was a Black woman – a factor not indicated on her original application. Harrison believed the federal court decision in McKissick v. Carmichael gave her the right to attend UNC, so she appealed her admission to university administrators. Told to wait until the next Board of Trustees meeting, Harrison filed a lawsuit against UNC. The university decided not to fight the case and admitted Harrison to the program. She attended graduate courses at UNC-Chapel Hill during the summer sessions in 1951 and 1952.

Sources:

• "Remembering Gwendolyn Harrison, the First African American Woman to Attend UNC." For the Record Blog. https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/uarms/2017/04/17/remembering-gwendolyn-harrison-the-first-african-american-woman-to-attend-unc/

Last Updated: Aptil 2025