First Black Undergraduate Students

Leroy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon, and Ralph Frasier (left to right)

When three Black students from Durham, brothers Leroy and Ralph Frasier, and John Lewis Brandon applied for admission to UNC-Chapel Hill in 1955, their applications were denied because of their race. The students challenged the university on court, arguing that the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Eduation prohibited racial discrimination in university admissions. Following a Disctrict Court ruling in their favor in September, 1955, Leroy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon and Ralph Frasier were the first Black undergraduate students to attend UNC.

• Leroy Benjamin Frasier papers, #4375-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/catalog/04375
• “Reclaiming the University of the People.” UNC of the People.  https://uncofthepeople.com/essays/introduction/ 
• “Three Durham Negros Now at Carolina.” Chapel Hill News Leader. (Chapel Hill, N.C.) September 15, 1955. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93065775/1955-09-15/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Frasier+Frasiers+Leroy
• "50 Years Later, A Look Back." Daily Tar Heel, 16 September 2005. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92068245/2005-09-16/ed-1/seq-5/
  

Photograph of Karen Parker

In 1963, Karen Parker transferred to UNC School of Journalism and was one of the first Black woman admitted into the undergraduate degree program. Parker was involved in civil rights activism, and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). She was named editor of the “UNC Journalist” a high honor within the School of Journalism. Parker graduated in 1965 and began a career in newspapers.  

Fish, C. (2017, February 16). “Carolina Firsts: Karen L. Parker”. History on the Hill. https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/hill/2017/02/16/carolina-firsts-karen-l-parker/ 

I Raised My Hand to Volunteer. Karen Parker. University Libraries  https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/exhibits/show/protest/biographies/karen-parker 

Karen L. Parker Collection, 1963-1966. Southern Historical Collection. https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/catalog/05275  

“Karen Parker Named New UNC Journalist Editor.” The daily Tar Heel. (Chapel Hill, N.C.) May 12, 1964. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073228/1964-05-12/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Karen+L.+Parker