2018 Silas Hunt Legacy Awards Honor Five Individuals, Three Organizations

Credit: University Relations

The fifth Silas Hunt Legacy Awards Celebration will be hosted by the University of Arkansas on Nov. 9.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The fifth Silas Hunt Legacy Awards Celebration will take place on Nov. 9 at the Fayetteville Town Center and will honor five individuals and three organizations for their significant impact on the University of Arkansas, the state of Arkansas, the nation and the world. The 2018 event is hosted by the University of Arkansas, and the honorees were chosen by a committee of faculty, staff and student representatives assembled by the Office for Diversity and Inclusion.

The newest class of recipients are:

• Young Pioneer Award – Joseph W. Daniels III, Fayetteville
• Young Pioneer Award – Ebony Oliver Wyatt, B.S.B.A.’03, Minnetonka, Minnesota
• Pioneer Award – John L. Colbert, B.S.E.’76, M.Ed.’81, Ed.D.’17, Fayetteville
• Pioneer Award – Raye Montague, Little Rock
• Pioneer Award – John Newman, Fayetteville
• Diversity Champion Award – The Alley Scholars Foundation, Desoto, Texas
• Diversity Champion Award – The Historic St. James Baptist Church, Curtiss P. Smith, Pastor, Fayetteville
• Diversity Champion Award – St. James United Methodist Church, Jeffrey L. Blassingame, Pastor, Fayetteville

“Through perseverance and bravery, Silas Hunt endured isolation and prejudice to open our doors to the kind of university we could and should be — a community that values how our differences as individuals make us stronger as an institution of higher learning,” said Yvette Murphy-Erby, vice provost for diversity and inclusion. “Thanks to these brave and tenacious trailblazers, those efforts didn’t stop with Silas Hunt. These individuals have fought against racism and prejudice to demonstrate, throughout their lives, that diversity and inclusion strengthen the fabric of a community. We are grateful for the foundation of inclusion these alumni and organizations helped build through mentoring and support for underrepresented students that continues to grow at the U of A today.”

Silas Hunt was a native of Texarkana and veteran of World War II. He became the first African American student to attend a major public university in the South when he was admitted to the University of Arkansas School of Law on Feb. 2, 1948. Hunt completed his undergraduate degree at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He died of tuberculosis in the spring of 1949 before finishing his law degree.

The University of Arkansas School of Law celebrated the 70th anniversary of Hunt’s admittance with a reception and retrospective earlier this year.

The Silas Hunt Legacy Awards Celebration, created by the university, was first awarded in 2006. Hunt is also memorialized on campus with the naming of a building in his honor and a sculpture near Old Main. In 2007, the state legislature established Feb. 2 as Silas Hunt Day in Arkansas.

Sponsorships for the Silas Hunt Legacy Awards Celebration event in November are available to both companies and individuals. Contact the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations at (479) 575-2638 for more information.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.