57545

Please see full film @
http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/wsbn/id:57545
In this WSB newsfilm clip from November 21, 1969, Charlayne Hunter speaks to a reporter about her recent visit to the University of Georgia and her feelings about African American students on the campus in Athens, Georgia.

The clip begins with Charlayne Hunter speaking to a reporter. Both Hunter and the reporter sit in front of a red curtain. The reporter asks Hunter about her feelings after spending several days on campus, particularly from her perspective as one of the first African American students on campus. Hunter expresses pleasure that there are nearly 125 African American students on campus. She also recognizes a feeling of alienation that most of the current African American students still feel. She expresses regret that African American students still are not "considered an integral part of the larger campus community." Hunter explains that she would have expected that to be different after nine years of integration. The reporter then asks Hunter about the University of Georgia's Black Studies program. Hunter indicates that while she does not think the proposal she has seen is ideal, she thinks it is a start.

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes applied for admission to the University of Georgia in 1959; university officials refused to admit the students, citing an insufficient amount of space. Hunter and Holmes both renewed their applications at every opportunity for the next year, without success. In 1960, attorneys for the two students filed a lawsuit in the federal courts, alleging that the university was not admitting the students based solely on their race. On January 6, 1961, federal judge William A. Bootle ordered the University of Georgia to admit the two students immediately. Holmes and Hunter registered for classes on January 9 and matriculated on January 11. Although a 1956 law prevented the state from funding integrated schools, the legislature, led by Governor Ernest Vandiver, chose instead to permit the university's integration rather than close it down. Holmes and Hunter graduated in 1963.

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