Students, Faculty, Staff Invited to Remember Silas Hunt

Graphic by Michele Payne

70 Since Silas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Join the University of Arkansas School of Law for a celebration and retrospective to honor the legacy of Silas H. Hunt. The drop-in reception will be held in the Six Pioneers Room in Waterman Hall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, which is the 70th anniversary of Hunt's admission to the law school. The event will include screenings of Silas Hunt: A Documentary throughout the day, and cake and coffee will be served.

Hunt made history on Feb. 2, 1948, when he became the first African-American student admitted to a white Southern university since Reconstruction and the first ever admitted for graduate or professional studies. He came to the University of Arkansas that day to meet with then-Dean Robert A. Leflar and apply for law school. Leflar reviewed Hunt's academic record and admitted him.

This first step toward integration did not include integration of the classroom. Hunt attended separate classes in the law school's basement. Fellow students and friends described him as humble and confident, attributes that likely helped him endure the publicity and strain that often follow leaders of progress.

Hunt was a diligent student who appeared to be on his way to a notable career when his health forced him to leave the university and enter the Veteran's Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. He died from tuberculosis on April 22, 1949, less than 16 months after starting his legal studies.

Students Wiley A. Branton, George W. Haley, George Howard Jr., Christopher Mercer and Jackie A. Shropshire quickly followed in Hunt's footsteps. Collectively, they have become known as The Six Pioneers.

The U of A honors Hunt in many ways, including the Silas Hunt Distinguished Honors Award, a building named in his honor and a sculpture near Old Main. In 2007, the state legislature established Feb. 2 as Silas Hunt Day in Arkansas.

Additional commemorations planned in 2018 include, "The Legacy of Silas Hunt: A Black History Month Commemorative Presentation" by former U. S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater (J.D. '80) at noon Monday, Feb. 5, and the university's Silas Hunt Legacy Award Celebration, which is scheduled for the fall. Please watch for more information about both events.