• “I was transformed during my time there.”


    Congratulations on 50 years of integration! I count it an honor to have been a part of the journey. As I reflect on my time there, I am appreciative and in awe of those who came before me, recognizing that had they not stepped out on faith, endured, and successfully completed their tenure at Duke, my opportunity may have never been. And oh what a tragedy that would have been! I was transformed during my time there. Through my classes, seminars, and countless cultural events, my mind was challenged and developed. (Thanks Paul Jefferies for all that jazz.)

    My memories of living in Southgate (then all girls), hanging out in the Bryan Center and on the quad, attending events in the Mary Lou Williams Center, shopping at Uncle Harry’s, and eating at my favorite on-campus restaurant – the Oak Room – continue to enrich and define me.

    Since I graduated, I have visited often, given annually, and am an active member of the local alumni admissions committee. I give back to the university in appreciation for what it gave to me and with the hope that those who have and will come after me may also be forever enriched by their Duke experience. Again, congratulations Duke!

    Jocelyn Harrison Henson, T ‘90

  • “…we have a few miles to go.”


    While I see the diversity related to people and conversation on the main campus, I believe some of the professional schools have a ways to go.
    At the university level, I felt my voice was not only sought after but heard. Sadly, this was not my reality in my professional school experiences. We can pay lip service to diversity but until the entire community embraces diversity of age, gender, race and ethnicity, and sexual identity we have a few miles to go.

    We can make it!

    Yvonne R. Ford, M.S.N ‘00, MHS-CL ‘04

  • “…I was not a welcome student ambassador.”


    I remember being interviewed and chosen to be the first university mascot of color, from 1976 to 1977. Back in those days, the mascot wore a Batman-type mask – only the top half of the face was covered. I can remember going to both home games and away games and being taunted with racial slurs by the opposing teams and their fans and even dodging missiles thrown my way by these people and their fans.

    Nothing, however, was more heartbreaking than to discover that I had been excluded from university alumni functions when visiting other cities with the cheerleadiung squads, evidently due to my obvious blackness. This alienation was further driven home when I was excluded from the annual athletic banquet held at the end of the academic year. Not only was I not invited, but I also was never offered, nor did I receive, the customary athletic jacket that previous Duke mascots received.

    Adding insult to injury, the next year the face of the Blue Devil was covered in totality. To this day I have refused to join the Alumni Association nor have I ever made a contribution to the Duke University Loyalty Fund. Duke Athletics made it clear that I was not a welcome student ambassador. My subsequent silence echoes my agreement with their sentiments.

    Michael M. Holyfield, T ‘79

  • “Their presence…enriched us all…”


    When Gene and Buddy came to Duke, I was a resident of House H, where they would be housed their first year. Numerous preparatory meetings were held to prepare a good beginning for them. Our two new fellow residents were a joy to know. Their presence, as the first in a long and distinguished line of African-American students at Duke, enriched us all, and I only hope that we in some small way made their time at Duke better. It was way overdue, and it was an honor to be involved in it.

    Denny White, T ‘65

  • “…Duke has had students of color for only 50 years.”


    I can not believe Duke has had students of color for only 50 years. I was born in 1963 and I consider myself young. I attended Duke from 1980 to 1984. I really had a great time there but lived a very segregated life. The African American students all ate together in the cafeteria. I know (hope) it is different now. Saying that, I have encouraged my twin daughters to apply there because I do feel I received an excellent education.

    Colette Brown-Graham

  • “…they didn’t think I belonged in my majors…”


    In the early ‘70s we were welcomed by the black staff.  The women who staffed the desk in the residence hall, the dining staff, and the housekeepers were all very proud of us and provided special encouragement.  My roommate and I felt especially cared for in our dormitory.  Mrs. Turrentine checked on us if we were late coming into the dormitory; Mrs. Byrd made sure we had dinner, even when we ran into the cafeteria late; and Mrs. Mitchell made sure we sure we had supplies when the housekeeping staff went home for the weekend.  The library staff asked how our courses were going and why they hadn’t seen us studying in Perkins.  They were our surrogate parents and they took good care of us.

    Personally, a few of the faculty made it clear that they didn’t think I belonged in my majors, if not at Duke.  One stated so in class.  I spent one semester asking white students to turn in my papers so the professor could not connect my work to my face.  And, I was told that I could not study abroad.  I only found out this was untrue when my advisor was surprised to see me the following semester.  Fortunately, these personal incidents were few.

    Maureen Cullins, T’76
    Director, Multicultural Resource Center
    Duke School of Medicine

  • “You weren’t just doing it for yourself”


    You have to remember that we grew up in a pre-civil rights era. Our experience was one of segregation: segregated communities, segregated churches, segregated schools. We remember separate water fountains. We remember sitting in the back of the bus. It was American apartheid and we grew up learning rules of behavior and conduct around that reality.

    I never considered leaving Duke because there was a pioneering spirit among us. You weren’t just doing it for yourself; you were doing it for your parents, your school teachers, and for your community. Back home we were celebrities; we were doing something new and revolutionary.

    William C. Turner, Jr. T ’70, M.Div. ’74, Ph.D. ‘84
    Professor of the practice of homiletics
    Duke Divinity School

  • “They were the people who saved us.”


    I came to Duke in the third class of African Americans. My hero, heroine, she-ro was [Wilhelmina] “Mimi” Reuben-Cooke. In those first years I had Mimi. She was truly an icon because she was so smart and she was always gracious. And if something was bugging me, I could go over, knock on the dorm door and ask to speak to her.

    The reminders of where we, as African Americans, came from and who we were, were the people who worked at Duke. They were the people who saved us. They saved me because I didn’t have a way to get off campus. I didn’t have the faculty role models that the majority of students had. They just took it for granted. I had Mimi to emulate and she was such a superior academic student that it set the bar very high for all of us.

    Brenda Armstrong T’70, H’79
    Professor, associate dean, and director of admissions
    Duke School of Medicine