University of Virginia Library

Admission Denied

In a speech given at the
University on Wednesday, February
4, 1914, J:H. Dillard, former Dean
of Tulane University and one of
the foremost authorities on the
Negro question applauded the
increasing reliability, efficiency and
co-operation of the Negro;
advocated "practical education and
segregation, saying that the latter
was a natural and instinctive
tendency of the Negroes
themselves." D.H. Ramsey spoke
along the same lines.

On Wednesday, November 4,
1914, Mr. Ramsey announced the
formation of a Negro study class,
the University's first Black studies
course with only whites studying.

September 21, 1935, the Board
of Visitors turned down the
application of a Negro for
admission to the graduate school.
The Board issued this statement,
"The education of white and
colored persons in the same schools
is contrary to the long established
and fixed policy of the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
Therefore, for this and other good
and sufficient reasons not necessary
to be herein enumerated the rector
and board of visitors of the
University of Virginia direct the
dean of the department of graduate
studies to refuse respectfully the
pending application of a colored
student." The student, daughter of
a Richmond druggist had begun
graduate work at Smith.