“Leroy Frasier, John Lewis Brandon, and Ralph Frasier (left to right), on the steps of South Building, 1955.”
1 media/image27_thumb.png 2021-08-26T12:05:52-07:00 Grant Glass 107afcf8873f422898a9c2e07c49ae3f625fc644 37354 1 The Carolina Story: A Virtual Museum of University History. 2006. Carolina Digital Library and Archives, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/integration/item/1125. plain 2021-08-26T12:05:52-07:00 Grant Glass 107afcf8873f422898a9c2e07c49ae3f625fc644This page is referenced by:
-
1
media/image27.png
2021-08-26T12:04:08-07:00
1955 - LeRoy Frasier (1937-2017), Ralph Frasier (1939?- ), and John Lewis Brandon (1938?-2018)
3
LeRoy Frasier, Ralph Frasier, and John Lewis Brandon become the first Black students to enroll in undergraduate studies at the University. LeRoy and Ralph were brothers, and all three had attended Hillside High School in Durham. Black student enrollment, however, still remained low for many years.
plain
2021-09-02T07:48:01-07:00
01/01/1955
LeRoy Frasier, Ralph Frasier, and John Lewis Brandon become the first Black students to enroll in undergraduate studies at the University. LeRoy and Ralph were brothers, and all three had attended Hillside High School in Durham. Black student enrollment, however, still remained low for many years.
Selena Hill explains: "Their applications to the institution were rejected until a federal court judge ordered UNC-Chapel Hill to accept them. However, once admitted, they faced gross discrimination on campus and were banned from using the school’s golf course and restaurant. . . . Because of the unfair treatment that they experienced, the Frasier brothers were forced to leave UNC-Chapel Hill after just three years. They both later graduated from an HBCU in Durham now known as North Carolina Central University.”
LeRoy Frasier eventually earned a master’s degree from New York University and served in the Peace Corps. He taught English as a second language in at least one African nation and eventually became a New York City English teacher.
SOURCES
“First Black Undergraduate Students” in “African Americans and Integration.” The Carolina Story: A Virtual Museum of University History. 2006. Carolina Digital Library and Archives, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/integration/leroy-frasier--john-lewis-bran.
Hill, Selena. “African American Student Who Helped Desegregate UNC-Chapel Hill in 1955 Passes Away.” Black Enterprise, 9 Jan. 2018, https://www.blackenterprise.com/student-desegregate-unc-chapel-hill/.
