Ground Crew: The Fight to End Segregation at Georgia State (Inaugural Groundbreaker Lecture)
In 1956, Myra Payne Elliott, Barbara Pace Hunt, and Iris Mae Welch along with other Black applicants were denied entry into Georgia State’s predecessor institution, the Georgia State College of Business Administration.
In 1959, a federal court ruled in their favor in Hunt v. Arnold — the NAACP’s first court victory against segregated education in Georgia. Despite winning the case, the Board of Regents at the time set forth arbitrary rules and regulations that prevented the women from enrolling at Georgia State. The women also faced vile, hate-filled denunciations by state politicians, as well as personal threats from members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists. Georgia State would not desegregate until 1962 — the same year that Ms. Welch died.
But ultimately, their case was a victory that laid the groundwork as legal precedent used to desegregate the University of Georgia and the University of Mississippi. As true groundbreakers, their courage to fight for their right for an education helped to lead fundamental change in American society.
Their story, told in Dr. Maurice C. Daniels' "Ground Crew: The Fight to End Segregation at Georgia State," was the subject of the inaugural Provost's Office Groundbreaker Lecture in February 2020. Dr. Daniels spoke and Ms. Elliott, her family, and the family of the late Ms. Hunt received special recognition by the university (In 2020, the university was unfortunately unable to locate members of Ms. Welch's family for the event. This was rectified in 2022 for the presentation of honorary degrees for all three women).
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