Silas Herbert Hunt (March 1, 1922 – April 22, 1949) was a U.S. veteran of World War II who became the first African American student to enroll in a white Southern university since the Reconstruction era.
[1] He enrolled at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College in Pine Bluff, but his studies were cut short when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in the fall of 1942 for service during World War II.
The battalion moved onto continental Europe on Jan. 9 and, as a result of a transportation mistake, ended up on the French-Belgian border amid the latter stages of the Battle of the Bulge.
Hunt initially planned to take advantage of that policy, applying and being accepted to the Indiana University School of Law, but the actions of a classmate, Ada Lois Sipuel, caused him to reconsider.
She didn't start classes until the next year, but the case had an effect on Hunt, who sought admission to the University of Arkansas rather than go to Indiana.
The university's board of trustees, which debated who should be allowed to enroll, voted to open the institution to all "regardless of sex, sect or race."
The opening of a Branch Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and the end of Reconstruction in the state appear to have dissuaded Black students from trying to enroll at the Fayetteville campus for the next 55 years.
In 1938, Edward W. Jacko of Little Rock submitted an application, but it was turned down, ostensibly because his undergraduate degree from Talladega College was from an institution that wasn't properly accredited.
[6] Instead of Davis, though, Hunt arrived on campus along with Wiley A Branton, who wanted to enroll in the undergraduate business college; Harold Flowers, a lawyer from Pine Bluff; and Geleve Grice, a photographer.
[9] In the fall of 1948, Jackie Shropshire of Little Rock became the second African American student to enroll in the University of Arkansas School of Law.
[11][12][13] Hunt's admission set the stage for African American students to seek enrollment in white public universities across the South.
In 1950, a federal court required the University of Virginia to admit Gregory Swanson, who faced hostility on campus and left after a year.