It’s easy to forget sometimes how recent segregation still is. It reminds me of this letter from Emory university dated 1959, less than 75 years ago, denying an applicant for being “a member of the negro race.” They only apologized for it about five years ago.
In one of the peculiarities of the segregation era, the state of Georgia paid Black students the difference in cost to attend school out of state. “If it cost $500 a year to go to school in Georgia, and it cost $1,000 to go up there, they would pay the extra $500 so I would pay the same thing,” Hood explains. “And I would come home each semester, go down to the capitol, and reluctantly they would give me this check to take back to Loyola University.”
It’s easy to forget sometimes how recent segregation still is. It reminds me of this letter from Emory university dated 1959, less than 75 years ago, denying an applicant for being “a member of the negro race.” They only apologized for it about five years ago.
Here’s a good 2021 article from Emory University Magazine discussing Hood and his application.
Edit: My favorite paragraph: