Ga. Southern integration recognized

Marker honors first African-American students on campus.

Georgia Southern University has put up a commemorative marker on campus that pays tribute to the integration of the school.

According a report on the school’s website, it was in January 1965 that John Bradley became the first African-American student at the college in Statesboro.

In the fall of 1965, Bradley was followed by six undergraduate African-American students: Clavelia Love Brinson, Arlene Marie Daughtry, Ulysee Mosley, Shirley Anne Woodall, Jesse Zeigler Carter and Catherine Davis, a sophomore transfer student who later earned the first bachelor’s degree awarded to an African-American graduate in the university’s history.

The marker is a tribute to the university’s first African-American students who courageously paved the way and provided hope for a better way of life for students who followed.

The report says the Integration of Georgia Southern marker, prominently placed on Sweetheart Circle in front of the University’s Marvin Pittman Administration Building, recognizes the efforts of the African-American students who, in their pursuit of higher education, entered an inhospitable environment, counted the costs and found education worth it.

“The marker will serve as a constant reminder of the bravery and perseverance of our first African-American students, and the community they built,” said Georgia Southern University President Jaimie Hebert in the school’s report.

“Their work was the foundation upon which this university built its mission — integrity, civility, kindness, collaboration, and a commitment to lifelong learning, wellness and social responsibility.”

“The unveiling of the historical marker is an awesome honor — a marker honoring the first seven African-Americans to walk the grounds as students at GSU,” said Jessie Zeigler Carter in the report. “I’m glad to have been a part of the brave warriors who paved the way for the many students who followed.”

African-American student enrollment gradually increased through the 1970s and 80s and dramatically grew in the 1990s to above 25 percent. In 1972, Dr. Charles Bonds became the first African-American faculty member. Today at Georgia Southern, more than 35 percent of the students, 32 percent of the full-time staff and 23 percent of full-time faculty are African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asians.