Living on Campus

In the 1960s, living on campus was an important part of an undergraduate’s college experience. The first black students were excluded from this part of college life because they were locals, living at home.

Vicky Winter, who had befriended Hardy, Turner, and Greene, recalled that the selection of local black students was deliberate:

“…Originally, what we had heard was three girls. And they were going to be from town, so they weren’t going to live in the dorms, which they carefully worked out…”

Maintaining segregation in dorm life appeared important to the administration because it lasted for two more years. In 1968, that barrier was broken, and black students began to live on campus.

 


Black Students on Campus, circa 1970-79.
Mississippi University for Women Archives. Meh Lady Collection.

Vicky Winter Pekurney Oral History.
Mississippi University for Women, Oral Histories Collection.