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First
Black Law
Student Gets Posthumous Degree
 (AP) - Sixty
years after enrolling in law school and stepping into
history, Silas Hunt has finally received his degree.
Hunt, who was the first Black student to enroll at the
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville since
Reconstruction, died of tuberculosis before earning his
degree. However, the university has bestowed a
posthumous degree in his name. Law school Dean Cynthia
Nance said the college wanted to honor Hunt as the 60th
anniversary of his enrollment came this year.
“The faculty of
the law school realized that the 60-year anniversary of
his admission was coming up and we planned a program
called ‘Sixty Since Silas,’” Nance told the Texarkana
Gazette. “In the context of having those discussions and
planning, the question was asked, ‘Did we ever give him
an honorary degree?’ and everyone started checking and
checking and the answer was no. So the faculty voted ...
and we were able to get it done in this very significant
year.”
Hunt was born March 1, 1922, to Josie
Gulley Moton and R.D. Hunt of Red Bluff. The Hunt family
moved to Texarkana in 1936 from Idabel,
Okla.
Hunt attended the Agricultural, Mechanical,
and Normal College at Pine Bluff, which later became the
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Hunt left college
after being drafted in the U.S. Army and later was
wounded during the Battle of the Bulge.
He
returned and finished his degree. On Feb. 2, 1948, Hunt
enrolled into the University of Arkansas law school
without any troubles, though he was forced to attend
segregated classes in the school's
basement.
Before he finished his degree, Hunt
suffered a bout of tuberculosis and died on April 22,
1949.
“I think it was his courage — having to
tough it out, being segregated in the basement and
knowing that it was important,” Nance said of Hunt’s
determination and tenacity. “It was important for him
personally, but he also knew that he was opening a door
for so many people behind him.”
Since his death,
the law school named a building after Hunt. The Arkansas
Legislature also honored Hunt in its last session by
approving Feb. 2 as a memorial day in his
name.
“Now we have scholarships in the name of
Silas Hunt,'' said Chris Erwin, who produced and
directed a documentary about him. “There are really no
barriers for them to succeed now.”
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