50 Black History Firsts at UNC

By: Marquise Drayton (’19), Staff Writer

1. In 1972, Richard Epps was the first African American student elected UNC student body president.
2. Hortense McClinton was the first black faculty member hired at Carolina in 1966. She spent almost 20 years in the School of Social Work.
3. In 1951, Kenneth Lee, Floyd McKissick Sr., Floyd Lassiter and Harvey Beech were the first four African-Americans to be admitted to UNC. Studying in the School of Law, Beech was the first to walk out with a degree in 1952.
4. Howard Lee was elected the first black mayor of Chapel Hill in 1969. In doing so, he became the first African American elected mayor in a predominantly white southern town since Reconstruction.
5. In 1961, David Dansby was the first black undergraduate to earn a degree from Carolina.
6. Karen Parker became the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from UNC in 1965.
7. In 1955, Oscar Diggs graduated from Carolina as its first black doctor of medicine.
8. Blyden and Roberta Jackson were the first tenured African American faculty members at UNC in 1969. Joining the English Department, Blyden was also the first to attain the rank of full professor. On the other end, Roberta Jackson became the first black tenure-track faculty member in the School of Education.
9. In 1963, soccer player Edwin Okoroma was the university’s first black student-athlete.
10. Charles Scott became the first African American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina in 1966. Recruited by Dean Smith, he played as a guard on the basketball team.
11. In 1967, Ricky Lanier was the first black scholarship athlete in football at Chapel Hill.
12. Herb Davis and Paul Woods founded Carolina’s first African American greek fraternity in 1973. This was the Psi Delta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
13. In 1973, Carolyn Bryson, Mae Israel, Rosa McAfee, Belinda Murrell, and Deborah Wilder chartered first black greek sorority at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This was the Kappa Omicron Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
14. Karen Stevenson was the first African American woman awarded the Morehead Scholarship in 1975. In addition, she was the first Carolina woman & first black woman in the nation to be selected as a Rhodes Scholar in 1979.
15. In 2006, Patricia Timmons-Goodson became the first black woman to serve as an associate justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court. She graduated from UNC in 1976 and later graduated from UNC School of Law in 1979.
16. Gloria Shealey was the first African American woman to serve as president of the Black Student Movement in 1975. She served as co-president with Darrell Diggs.
17. In 1829, enslaved poet George Horton became the first black to publish a book in the South with his collection The Hope of Liberty. Composing love poems for UNC male students on campus, he’d earn 25 or 50 cents for each funding towards his emancipation..
18. John Brandon, Leroy Frasier Jr. and Ralph Frasier were the first African American undergraduates enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1955.
19. In 1976, Sheri Parks was crowned the first black homecoming queen at UNC.
20. Edith Elliott was appointed as the first African American woman to be the director of the Campus Y in 1972.
21. In 2013, Crystal King was both the first black and woman to serve as the director of the Carolina Union.
22. Preston Dobbins served as the first president of the Black Student Movement in 1967.
23. In 1981, Sonja Stone was the first recipient of the Outstanding Black Faculty Award from the UNC-CH General Alumni Association.
24. Margo Crawford served as the first director of the Black Cultural Center (later renamed Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture & History) when it opened in 1998.
25. In 1974, Andromeda Monroe was selected as the first African American student attorney general at Carolina.
26. Charles Stone served as the first president of the National Association of Black Journalists in 1975. A member of the all-black Tuskegee Airmen during WWII, he joined the journalism faculty at Chapel Hill in 1991.
27. In 1991, Angela Bryant was the first African American female student to be elected to the UNC Board of Trustees.
28. Cureton Johnson founded and served as the first editor-in-chief of Black Ink Magazine in 1969, which is the official publication of the Black Student Movement.
29. In 1983, Frank Brown became the first African American dean of a professional school with doctoral-level academic programs at UNC-Chapel Hill. He served as the dean of the UNC School of Education for seven years.
30. Mickey Hickerson was the first black student-athlete to play on the baseball team at Carolina in 1969.
31. In 1976, Sylvia Mathis became the first African American woman FBI agent. In addition to that, she was the very first female agent recruited in the state of North Carolina. She graduated from UNC School of Law in 1975.
32. Paula Newsome was the first black woman optometrist to open a practice in North Carolina, which is Advantage Vision Care located in Charlotte, NC. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1977.
33. In 1965, James Womack was chosen as the first African American cheerleader at UNC.
34. Graduating in 2011, Mykia Johnson was the first and only student thus far to have a BSM Umoja Award named in her honor.
35. In 1971, Doris Stith was crowned as the first Miss BSM at the BSM Coronation Ball.
36. Paul Woods and Colin Rustin were appointed the first African American directors of a dormitory at UNC in 1973.
37. In 1973, Jim Webster was hired as the first black assistant coach of Carolina football.
38. Gwendolyn Smith became the first African American woman to enroll and attend classes at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1951.
39. In 1998, Benjamin Ruffin was elected the first black chairman of the UNC Board of Governors.
40. Raegan McDonald founded and served as the first president of Harmonyx in 1994, which is the official acapella group of the Black Student Movement.
41. In 1972, Charles Daye joined the UNC School of Law faculty. In doing so, he became its first full-time African American faculty member.
42. Harry Groves was hired as the UNC School of Law’s first black visiting faculty member in 1970.
43. In 1974, Phillip Dean’s play “Everynight When the Sun Goes Down,” was the first production with an entirely black cast to be presented by the Carolina Playmakers.
44. William Darity Sr. became the first African American to receive a PhD degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1964.
45. In 2015, Michael Jordan became the first billionaire NBA player in history. The third richest African American behind Oprah Winfrey and Robert Smith, he played basketball under Coach Dean Smith while at Carolina and graduated in 1986.
46. Amos Lawrence Jr. was the first black football player out of UNC to win a Super Bowl in 1982. Winning with Joe Montana & the San Francisco 49ers, he was drafted in the fourth round of the 1981 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers.
47. In 1977, Rochelle Small-Toney was the first African American female student-athlete to play women’s basketball at UNC.
48. Kathy Crawford, Henrietta Walls, and Deanna Thomas were the first black female scholarship athletes at North Carolina in 1979.
49. In 1985, Andrea Walls was UNC’s first African American volleyball player.
50. Aaron Epps and Micheline Amisi earned the honors of Mr. & Miss UNC in 2017, becoming the first black royalty couple since 2006.