Barrier breakers from the 1950s
FIRST ROW, left to right: Earthly Miller, granddaughter
of A. Tennyson Miller; Burlyce (Sherrell) Logan; Eleanor Stimpson;
Floydell Barton Hall; Bettye Morgan. SECOND ROW: James Bowdre;
Joe Atkins; Leon King; and Thomas King.
1954, Alfred Tennyson Miller, first African
American student admitted to NT Ph.D. program (awarded posthumously)
1955, Joe Atkins, filed lawsuit to enroll
as undergraduate student, earned M.Ed. from NT in 1967
1956 (spring), Irma E. Loud Sephas,
first African American undergraduate student admitted to NT (honored
posthumously)
1956 (summer), Hayward Sparks, first African
American freshman admitted to NT
1956 (fall), first cohort of African American undergraduate
transfer students
- Ulysses S. Cox
- Barbara Beverly
Kincaide
1956 (fall), first cohort of African American NT
freshmen
- James Bowdre
- Thelma Boykin
Brown
- Joyce Coleman
- James Gayle
- Floydell Barton
Hall
- Sherman Harris
(honored posthumously)
- Abner Haynes
- Lurline Bradley
Jackson
- Dr. Leon King
- Burlyce Sherrell
Logan
- Joyce Metters
- Bettye Morgan
- Lawrence Clinton
Peppers
- Eleanor Stimpson
1956, first African American athletes (football)
- Abner Haynes
- Dr. Leon King
1956, Mrs. Norvell Reed, accepting award
on behalf of all Denton residents who housed NT students before
they were permitted to live in on-campus housing
1956, Southeast Denton Ministerial Alliance,
accepting award on behalf of all Denton churches who tended to
the NT African American students’ spiritual and social needs
1957, first African Americans to live in on-campus
NT student housing
- Sylvia Boyd (honored
posthumously)
- Floydell Barton
Hall
- Elaine Harvey
- Bettye Morgan
1957, first African Americans to receive NT graduate
degrees
- Dr. Theodore Lee,
Jr.
- Thelma Sparks
- Augustus Whitted
1957, Barbara Beverly Kincaide,
first African American student to receive an undergraduate degree
from NT
1959 (January), Ulysses S. Cox, second African
American student to receive undergraduate degree from NT
1959 (August), Dr. Herbie K. Johnson,
third African American student to receive undergraduate degree
from NT
1959, Bobbie Kimble Boyer, first
African American Denton resident to graduate from NT
