Label from Case 2 of "The Inevitable Present: Integration at William & Mary"
Shown here is a label from Case 2 of the "'The Inevitable Present': Integration at William & Mary" Exhibit located in the Marshall Gallery (1st Floor Rotunda) and the Read & Relax area of Swem Library at the College of William & Mary, on display from February 4th 2013 to August 13th 2013
The following is a transcription of the label text:
The rejection letters received by African American applicants to William & Mary in the 1950s are strikingly similar. While some were turned away because of a late or incomplete application, most rejections included a statement like this:
“The College of William & Mary is a state-supported institution of the Commonwealth of Virginia which complies with all its laws, rules and regulations. We may not enroll Negroes except as provided for under the statutes of the Commonwealth.”
Letters generally closed with a referral for the applicant to Virginia State College, the present-day Virginia State University in Petersburg and a refund of the application fee. One applicant who received such a rejection letter in the summer of 1955 was Barbara Blayton, daughter of the late Alleyne Houser Blayton and Dr. J. Blaine Blayton, a prominent Williamsburg-area physician and civic leader. Eight years later, Barbara Blayton’s younger brother Oscar would become the first African American undergraduate student admitted to William & Mary.
Office of the President, Davis Young Paschall Records,
UA 2.15, Acc. 1982.74, Box 33, Folder 34: Negro Education, 1954-1971
New Journal and Guide, 2 July 1955
The article is available through the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database at proxy.wm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview...
From the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. See swem.wm.edu/research/special-collections for further information and assistance.
Label from Case 2 of "The Inevitable Present: Integration at William & Mary"
Shown here is a label from Case 2 of the "'The Inevitable Present': Integration at William & Mary" Exhibit located in the Marshall Gallery (1st Floor Rotunda) and the Read & Relax area of Swem Library at the College of William & Mary, on display from February 4th 2013 to August 13th 2013
The following is a transcription of the label text:
The rejection letters received by African American applicants to William & Mary in the 1950s are strikingly similar. While some were turned away because of a late or incomplete application, most rejections included a statement like this:
“The College of William & Mary is a state-supported institution of the Commonwealth of Virginia which complies with all its laws, rules and regulations. We may not enroll Negroes except as provided for under the statutes of the Commonwealth.”
Letters generally closed with a referral for the applicant to Virginia State College, the present-day Virginia State University in Petersburg and a refund of the application fee. One applicant who received such a rejection letter in the summer of 1955 was Barbara Blayton, daughter of the late Alleyne Houser Blayton and Dr. J. Blaine Blayton, a prominent Williamsburg-area physician and civic leader. Eight years later, Barbara Blayton’s younger brother Oscar would become the first African American undergraduate student admitted to William & Mary.
Office of the President, Davis Young Paschall Records,
UA 2.15, Acc. 1982.74, Box 33, Folder 34: Negro Education, 1954-1971
New Journal and Guide, 2 July 1955
The article is available through the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database at proxy.wm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview...
From the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. See swem.wm.edu/research/special-collections for further information and assistance.