Wendell Wilkie Gunn
[1] One of four children, his father was a laborer at Reynolds Metal Company and an officer in the black local of the Aluminum Workers International Union.
Several Florence State College employees in the Registrar’s Office came out to ask what he wanted before disappearing, and Gunn was eventually interviewed by Dean of Students Turner Allan along with President E.B.
Gray has described the episode as “the easiest case in my civil rights career.”[3] Gunn’s initial unsuccessful attempt to enroll at Florence State had been reported in the local newspapers, and the family received harassing phone calls, including threats of physical violence.
A very few hellos.” At the end of his first year at Florence State, an incident at an awards day event signaled a shift in campus attitudes toward Gunn’s presence and marked a sharp contrast to his lack of social acceptance at the college.
At the Honors Day ceremony in the spring of 1964, Gunn’s name was called in recognition of having achieved the highest grade point average in Physics.
[citation needed] Gunn has said that “after I had been gone awhile, I looked back and there were quite a number” of African American students at the school.
[9] While giving a commencement address at the University of North Alabama in 2017, Gunn related the events that led to his going to work in the White House during the Reagan Administration.
Sitting in a snow bound commuter train during the 1976 presidential campaign, he was inspired to write a letter criticizing then candidate Governor Ronald Reagan's electoral strategy with minorities.
Gunn notes that although he initially turned down the offer to join the administration he was later persuaded during a White House visit by a personal overture from President Reagan.
Following service in the White House, Gunn worked as an economic consultant and was considered for an appointment to the Federal Reserve Board in 1985.
[9] In 2013, Gunn was chosen as the Convocation Speaker at his alma mater, the University of North Alabama and participated in special events commemorating the integration of the institution fifty years earlier.
[4] In 2017, Gunn was chosen to make the Commencement address at the spring graduation ceremonies at UNA and received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in recognition of his extraordinary lifetime achievements.
The UNA Board of Trustees resolution awarding the Honorary Doctorate reads in part that “Gunn epitomizes the traits of perseverance and integrity that cross social, racial, and cultural backgrounds that the University desires for all students as a means to academic and future success.”[14] At a ceremony on March 14, 2018, the University of North Alabama renamed the prominently located Student Commons Building the Wendell W. Gunn University Commons Building.
[15] Gunn is currently researching the context and historical background that led to the integration of Florence State College.Gunn is married with two sons and a daughter and resides in Stamford, Connecticut.
