Remembrances in Black: Personal Perspectives of the African American Experience at the University of Arkansas, 1940s–2000s

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments xi Foreword xiii Introduction xv Key to the Organization of This Book xix Chapter 1: In the Beginning George W. B. Haley 4 Christopher C. Mercer Jr 8 Chapter 2: Taking the Moderate Path: Desegregation in the 1950s Waldo Bronson 18 Melvin Eugene Dowell 21 Peter G. Faison 22 George Mays 24 Gordon D. Morgan 28 Helen Maxine Sutton Cannon 31 Sanford Tollette III 34 George L. Wesley 36 Billie Rose Whitfield Jacobs 39 Marjorie Wilkins Williams 43 Chapter 3: To Prevent “Irreparable Harm”: Desegregation and the 1960s Sharon E. Bernard 49 Harold B. Betton 56 Darrell Brown Sr. 58 Margaret Clark 66 Viralene J. Coleman 69 Alice Davis Butler 70 Joanna P. Edwards 73 Wendell L. Griffen 78 Letter to Chancellor White—Recruitment and Retention 80 Eugene Hunt 83 Jerry Leon Jennings 89 Gerald Jordan 92 Jackie “Jack” Ray Kearney 93 Almer Lee 96 Hiram McBeth III 97 George McGill 100 George B. Miller Jr. 102 Gene E. McKissic Sr. 105 Resolution—Black Alumni Society to University 113 Ray E. McKissic 114 Vernon Murphy 117 Deborah Hill Thompson 122 Semon Frank Thompson Jr. 124 Earnestine Banks Walton Russell 128 George W. Whitfield 129 Robert Whitfield 135 Robert Whitfield, Melvin Eugene Dowell, and Semon F. Thompson Jr. 137 Chapter 4: BAD Challenges Desegregation in the 1970s Lenthon B. Clark 146 Shirley Lefall Clark 147 John L Colbert 148 Edward Duffy 149 Dinah Gail Gant 153 Patricia L. Greene Griffen 155 E. Lynn Harris 156 Karen Harris Tate 163 Kenneth “Muskie” Harris 166 Rhonda Bell Holmes 168 Tracy Holmes Sr. 169 Lynda Jackson Browne 171 Hannibal B. Johnson 177 Janis F. Kearney 179 Terry G. Lee 184 Charles Magee 188 Angela Mosley Monts 189 Lloyd A. Myers 192 viii ■ Contents C. Calvin Smith 194 Morris Sylvester 195 Frederick Tollette 196 Charlie L. Tolliver 197 Trent A. Walton 199 Lonnie R. Williams 201 Chapter 5: “Making an Honest Effort”: Desegregation and the University of Arkansas in the 1980s LaTonia Clark George 215 Dexter L. Howard 219 Reena M. Jackson Holmes 223 Merike Manley 225 Karen Mathis Mongo 228 Roderick J. McDavis 231 Katina Revels 233 Cedric E. Williams 234 Chapter 6: Desegregation Work Still in Progress: The University of Arkansas in the 1990s Celia Anderson 237 Eddie Armstrong 239 Johnetta Cross Brazzell 242 Kevin Dedner 245 William Jeffrey “Giovanni” Flanigan 248 Crystal D. Hendricks Green 250 Tanisha L. Joe Conway 251 Monica M. Jones 252 Trenia Miles 256 Cynthia E. Nance 258 Ebony Oliver Wyatt 262 Terry N. Perkins Rolfe 263 La Tina Watkins Washington 264 Lisa Williams 265 Chapter 7: Destination: Diversity and Desegregation in the 2000s Randy Dorian Brown Jr. 273 Synetra Gilmer 275 Quantrell Willis 276 Contents ■ ix Afterword: Write This Down 280 Epilogue 282 Appendix A: Biographies of the Interviewees 285 Appendix B: African American Enrollment at the University of Arkansas 319 Appendix C: African American Timeline at the University of Arkansas 321 Notes 331 x ■ Contents ...