Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Woman helped pave way for blacks at UNC Chapel Hill
GASTONIA, N.C. — Sixty-five years ago, Gwendolyn Harrison Smith was told because of her skin color she could not attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Although she had the academic credentials to take a doctorate-level Spanish class during a summer session at the state’s flagship university, something had been overlooked in her application, university officials said.
“It was not known she was a Negro when a room assignment was given to her by mail,” Neal Cheek wrote in his 1973 dissertation, which was made available by the university.
Smith, who lived most of her adult life in Bessemer City, died Feb. 28 at 91.
Her story would be remarkable even if she had taken the advice of university officials and accepted a refund and returned home.
But Smith fought for her right to an education, and in turn became the first black woman to take classes at the UNC Chapel Hill, according to university officials. She would be one of the first blacks to ever take classes at the university.
“It’s still incredible the courage they had to be pioneers here,” said Nicolas Graham, an archivist at the university.
Smith was 25 when she arrived on the UNC Chapel Hill campus in 1951. She had already earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Spelman College in Atlanta and a master’s in Spanish from the University of California. She was a professor at Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte at the time she applied to take a class at UNC Chapel Hill.
The application for summer school did not have a place to denote a person’s race, although it was noted she had attended the historically black Spelman College and taught at Johnson C. Smith, another historically black college. Smith did put her race down on the dormitory room reservation card, according to school records.
Everything seemed fine at first.
Smith went to a dormitory after arriving on campus, paid a deposit and was given a key to a room. She left the dormitory to try to discover the class registration procedure. When she returned to her dormitory, university officials were waiting.
She was told she would not be permitted to live in the dormitory or register for classes. She was advised to see the director of the summer school or UNC Chancellor Robert Burton House.
House told her that no one at the university had the authority to act on applications from “Negro graduate students,” according to records. Instead of going home, Smith, who at that time was not yet married, wrote a letter to then-Gov. W. Kerr Scott, who was also chairman of the UNC board of trustees, explaining the situation. With the help of her father, a medical doctor in Kinston, Smith also sought advice from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and hired an attorney.
She filed a federal lawsuit against the university on July 5, 1951.
At an emergency meeting of trustees on July 16, one of the board’s members suggested the university discontinue its doctoral program in Spanish rather than let Smith attend classes. That idea was defeated in a vote by a “good majority.”
Another board member spoke up for admitting Smith. “I don’t think we should say we’re willing to be ignorant rather than educate Negro children,” said trustee Victor Bryant, according to college records. The trustees would vote overwhelmingly to admit Smith into the program.
Smith began her class in the second summer session. She would take at least three classes over three summer sessions. University officials were uncertain whether she earned a doctorate there. Her federal suit was dismissed after she began attending classes.
Few people knew of Smith’s historic Civil Rights past, her family said. She would mention it sometimes in passing, but it wasn’t something she talked about much. She was far better known for her kindness, love of education and dedication to family, her children said.
“My momma had a lot of spunk, a lot of fight in her,” said Carla Smith Brown, of Gastonia, the oldest of four siblings.
Her mother was still teaching at Johnson C. Smith when she married John Charles Smith in 1953. He was a barber and worked in a local machine shop. They remained married until his death in 1998.
Gwendolyn Harrison Smith would leave teaching and often remained at home to care for her children, her daughter said.
She had an extraordinary childhood, apparently graduating high school at 13 as valedictorian. Her father, Dr. Josef P. Harrison, thought her too young to go to college, so he made her wait one year before attending Spelman College in Atlanta. After she graduated from Spelman, she taught black students for a year at Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta.
“She always said, ‘Be good to yourself, education is important and be careful how you treat others,’ ” Brown said. Nicolas Graham,