Edith Hubbard: survivor
in the era of integration

Edith Hubbard is one of the first black women to attend UNC-Chapel Hill

February 15, 2001
Web posted at: 1:05 PM EST (1805 GMT)

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By Bridgett Williams
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (CNNSB) -- Think of your most embarrassing moment in school and then imagine the following scene: You walk into the first day of class to find a professor and the entire class staring at you like you're crazy. You try to ignore it and make your way to a desk, but just as you get ready to take a seat, the professor shouts, "What are you doing here?"

When Edith Hubbard attended her first class at the University of North Carolina in 1964, that's what happened to her. She confirmed to the professor that she was in the right classroom, but the teacher snapped that she would never pass because she was black. Hubbard did pass the class, but despite the after-class help she got from another professor, she only received a C grade. She said she knew she deserved better. But she understood as one of only a handful of African-American students on campus, she would be held to a higher standard.

VIDEO CNN's Bridgett Williams reports on the hard times and good times for University of North Carolina alumnus, Edith Hubbard Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    FACT BOX INTEGRATING UNC 1951 - J. Kenneth Lee, lawyer of Greensboro, N.C., and Harvey Beech became the first two African Americans males to attend a graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In June of that year, Lee and Beech enrolled in the law school after a lengthy lawsuit and appeal against the University. Two others joined them later while at the same time, the medical school was admitting its first black students. 1955 -- The undergraduate program at UNC admitted its first black male students. 1963/64 - Two black females enrolled in UNC. Edith Hubbard was one of them.

Edith Hubbard entered UNC-Chapel Hill as one of the school's first two black female undergraduates. It was the early days of court-ordered integration, a time of extreme tension, strong emotions and racial misunderstanding. Though black male students had been going to the undergraduate schools at the university since 1955 and graduate programs in the law school and medical school accepted its first blacks in 1951, there were no black females until the early 1960s.

Hubbard said she endured many hardships on campus. She knew of only one other black female student, but they never met. When she finally made it to graduation, she had just one thought: "Thank God it's over."

Hubbard entered UNC-Chapel Hill as a junior because, at that time, young women were only allowed to study at the university for their junior and senior years. She had completed her first two undergraduate years at Bennett College, a historically black women's college in nearby Greensboro, North Carolina. The UNC Board of Trustees didn't vote to allow women to enter as freshmen until 1963. Today, nearly 60 percent of the student body is female.

If it had been difficult for the black male students, getting admitted was even more difficult for black female students, according to Hubbard. She said she doesn't believes administrators realized she was an African-American when she was accepted into the school, in part because the black and white photo she submitted with her application made her fair skin look pale.

"Black and white pictures can be deceiving," Hubbard said. "I don't know that whoever was in the process of doing the selection took note of the fact that I was black."

Hubbard had grown up in the Chapel Hill area, but she had never been so totally isolated. At UNC, she was shunned. She ate lunch alone, and she was denied membership into a sorority because of her race.

"Racism wasn't as subtle back then," she said. "People were not shy about letting you know how they felt."

Attending "Carolina" wasn't all bad, Hubbard said. The campus was beautiful, and many people did warm up to her. Today, she has a high regard for the university. "The campus is just extremely beautiful, particularly in the spring with the green leaves and yes, I love the campus," she admits.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Still she has more painful memories than pleasant ones. When the governor of North Carolina spoke at her graduation ceremony in 1966, Hubbard said she couldn't bring herself to shake his hand because she had so much anger for the racism she had experienced at the university.

"I was really struck by the puzzlement on his face, and I don't think he fully understood the pain I was experiencing," she said.

But times change and so did Hubbard's heart. She grew to love the school where she had experienced so much hate. She forgave the past to make room for the future.

"Carolina has changed, and it's a good place to be a part of," she says.

She returned to the University of North Carolina for a graduate degree. And 20 years later, she encouraged her own daughter and son to attend the university. Now a proud grandmother, she hopes her grandchildren will consider her alma mater, too.

Hubbard now works at the school as the associate director of research services, helping faculty find funding to conduct important studies. She holds memberships in the Carolina Club and the Carolina Alumni Country Club, which recently featured her in the member spotlight section of its newsletter.

"Things have just improved tremendously," Hubbard said. "Other (minority) students just don't have the same issues to deal with. I'm just really appreciative. Things change, myself included. Now, that I'm older and more mature and looking back, it's not nearly as painful."

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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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