UNC System and Brown v. Board of Education

The historic Brown v. Board of Education decision, which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, failed to immediately bring about the admission of African Americans to undergraduate programs in North Carolina because higher education was not specifically discussed in the case. Some states, such as Maryland and West Virginia, were willing to accept that the Court’s prohibition of segregation in public elementary and high schools would also apply to the nation’s colleges and universities, but North Carolina did not immediately make this leap. In fact, in 1955, the year after the Brown decision, the Consolidated UNC System’s Board of Trustees passed a resolution, which affirmed that all three universities would not accept African American undergraduate students. In response to questions from system President, Gordon Gray, NC State Chancellor Carey Bostian drafted a form letter, which could be sent to any African American applicant to the UNC system denying them admission solely on the basis of race. It stated that “The Board of Trustees of the Consolidated University of North Carolina has decided that applications of Negros to the undergraduate schools at the three branches of the Consolidated University will not be accepted. We trust that you will be able to pursue your education at another college."

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