The first black regional director of a federal agency (the EEOC), Hollowell is best remembered for his instrumental role in winning the desegregation of the University of Georgia in 1961.

Although in Kansas and therefore not subject to the racist Jim Crow laws of the South, he faced blatant racism and discrimination while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Hollowell recounted that "army officials relegated him to eating in the kitchen, sleeping in quarters adjacent to prisoners, and patronizing Jim Crow canteens."

Hollowell's experiences with racial segregation and discrimination and his involvement with the Southern Negro Youth Congress after the war inspired him to pursue the study of law to help in the fight for social justice.

In 1952, Hollowell set up a law practice in Atlanta, Georgia, where he began to play a major role in the burgeoning civil rights struggle.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Hollowell as regional director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a government agency that monitors workplace discrimination.