Undergraduate Level:

The decision to allow black graduate students into white universities did little to provide interested African Americans with access to undergraduate programs. In 1953, the same year African Americans first entered NC State’s graduate schools, a Reverend wrote NC State Chancellor John W. Harrelson to discuss his son’s predicament.  The Reverend's son was an engineering student at NC A&T but, unimpressed with the educational opportunities at the college, he hoped to transfer to a better equipped and higher rated school. Despite being a native North Carolinian, he was denied entry to NC State because of his race. In the end, he decided to transfer to Howard University but, because an engineering program existed in state, he was unable to receive any kind of financial aid. The reverend appealed to Harrelson for his help in rectifying what he believed was an unjust situation. If his son could not be admitted to State, he claimed he would be satisfied with financial assistance to study at Howard. The Reverend’s frustration and anger are readily apparent throughout the letter, in which he repeatedly stressed both the unfairness of his son’s circumstances and the inequality between the State and A&T Engineering programs. The letter is signed simply but powerfully, with his name and the word father.

In response to the Reverend's emotional plea, Harrelson sent a cold, business like reply, which showed little sympathy for father or son. He merely acknowledged university policy, which denied admission to African Americans undergraduates, and pointed the Reverend in the direction of the agency in charge of out-of-state financial aid. In November 1954, Chancellor Cary Bostian sent a very similar letter to an Afirican American student interested in studying at NC State, which denied his admission on the basis of race. This letter, however, hinted that change could be on the horizon. While Bostian noted that the university’s admissions were unlikely to change in the coming year, his suggestion that the young man pursue his studies elsewhere if he wished to enroll during the next semester imply that these policies may not be permanent.

Visit other Exhibits in Crossing the Color Line.