Beyond Blue and White: University of Kentucky Presidents and Desegregation, 1941-1987
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation 2014 Beyond Blue and White: University of Kentucky Presidents and Desegregation, 1941-1987 Mark W. Russell University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Russell, Mark W., "Beyond Blue and White: University of Kentucky Presidents and Desegregation, 1941-1987" (2014). Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation. 18. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/epe_etds/18 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Mark W. Russell, Student Dr. Richard Angelo, Major Professor Dr. Jeffrey Bieber, Director of Graduate Studies BEYOND BLUE AND WHITE: UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PRESIDENTS AND DESEGREGATION, 1941-1987 DISSERTATION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky By Mark W. Russell Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Richard Angelo 2014 Copyright © Mark W. Russell 2014 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION BEYOND BLUE AND WHITE: UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PRESIDENTS AND DESEGREGATION, 1941-1987 This dissertation fills a gap in the historiography of southern higher education by focusing on five university presidents and their role in the desegregation of a non-elite flagship university in the Upper South. While historian Melissa Keane has studied the presidential role at elite private southern universities during the initial phase of the desegregation process, no study has yet examined desegregation from the president’s office at a southern land-grant university. Building upon historian Peter Wallenstein’s thesis that desegregation is not a single event in an institution’s history but rather an ongoing process, I argue that it was also process that clearly involved the university presidents. Though much has been written about desegregation in Kentucky generally and the University of Kentucky specifically, and the pioneering African-American students who desegregated UK, almost no scholarship has focused on the specific role of the UK presidents in the ongoing desegregation process. In much of the existing literature, the presidents are portrayed as spectators, they occupy a backseat, or they sit on the sidelines as the action unfolds. Often their story ends with the initial desegregation of UK’s graduate and undergraduate programs. Passive observers they were not; however, Herman Lee Donovan, Frank Graves Dickey, John Wieland. Oswald, Albert Dennis Kirwan, and Otis Arnold Singletary implemented policies that impacted the course of desegregation at the University of Kentucky. KEYWORDS: Desegregation, University of Kentucky, University Presidents, Southern Higher Education, African-American History Mark W. Russell Student’s Signature 23 June 2014 Date BEYOND BLUE AND WHITE: UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PRESIDENTS AND DESEGREGATION, 1941-1987 By Mark W. Russell Dr. Richard Angelo Director of Dissertation Dr. Jeffrey Bieber Director of Graduate Studies 23 June 2014 Date For Charles Lamont Eubanks ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dissertations are seldom completed without the assistance and guidance of others. That being said, discharging my intellectual debt is important to me, for without the individuals cited below, I could never have completed this project. First, let me acknowledge my university mentors. To Dr. Richard Angelo, chair of my committee, I appreciated your belief in the relevance of this project. Your seminars inspired me, your bibliographical help steered me down the right path, and the insightful comments you wrote on each chapter I submitted helped me to become a better writer. Likewise, I benefited from the instruction of university archivist and current Dean of UK Libraries, Dr. Terry Birdwhistell, whose seminar initiated me into the world of oral history. It was Dr. Birdwhistell who arranged for me to interview the legendary Kentucky historian, Dr. Thomas D. Clark. To Dr. John Thelin, I thank you for always being the voice of moderation in your seminars. Your kind words throughout the years have not gone unnoticed. Too, I gained much background on the American Civil Rights Movement from my final seminar with Dr. Gerald Smith of UK’s Department of History. This knowledge enabled me to place UK’s desegregation in its proper context. To Professor Virginia Nordin, had it not been for your seminar on affirmative action, I might never have become familiar with former Emory president Jim Laney’s ideas on the moral authority of the college presidency. Dr. Joan Mazur, my outside reader, helped immensely in scheduling my dissertation defense by suggesting Doodle. Though she might not remember it, I have never forgotten her attendance at a meeting with former FCPS Superintendent Stu Silberman, current director of the Prichard Committee, to discuss an issuerelated to equity. So many people in Special Collections and Archives iii have helped in retrieving materials for me. I thank Frank Stanger and his assistants for their help in this area. Ms. Amberly Warnke of the Department of Education Policy Studies and Evaluation kept me informed of deadlines and always helped on the administrative end, and Ms. Debbie Hammond of Clemson helped with a final round of editing. Long before I entered the College of Education, others played a role in shaping my intellectual development. They, too, should be acknowledged. While I was an undergraduate at Loyola University of Chicago, Dr. Aldona M. Walker repeatedly encouraged me to become a better writer and critical thinker while opening the doors to the major themes of German literature. Drs. Linda K. Worley and Jeannine Blackwell of UK’s Department of Germanic Languages are two individuals who helped in shaping my views about fairness and equity while I was a graduate student of German. The late Dr. Phillip McKnight of UK and Georgia Tech also challenged my thinking in a seminar on East German Literature. For their excellent teaching, I shall always be grateful. Family members have also been instrumental in helping me complete this project. To my mother, Harriette Weiser Russell of Bluffton, South Carolina, I did not always appreciate your constant reminders about completing what one starts, but, as these pages show, I did, in fact, complete the dissertation after all. My mother was perhaps the first person to influence my thinking about what university presidents can and should do because she attended a university which failed in its attempt to desegregate peacefully. Though I am still disturbed by some of the stories she told me about Ole Miss, I am thankful that under the direction of recent presidents, that institution has worked hard to atone for the sins of its past. My late uncle, Reverend Frederick Sheely Weiser of New iv Oxford, Pennsylvania, also contributed indirectly to this dissertation because of his success as a writer on Pennsylvania German Fraktur and as the family historian. I often thought to myself: if he can write, so can I. My maternal grandparents, Donald Koehler and Elizabeth Sheely Weiser, have been dead for many years, but it was in their hometown of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that I developed a love for history and an interest in colleges. Both were extremely loyal to their alma maters: he to Gettysburg College where he served as a trustee; she to Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Only later did I understand that both of these institutions engaged in the same exclusionary policies as the southern universities I investigated. To my brother Craig, who died in December of 2008 and shared an interest in the South, I wish you had been here to see the completion of this dissertation. You left us too soon. My cousin, John Conrad Weiser of New York City has for years been a quiet supporter of me and my work. Finally, friends and colleagues Aaron Buis, Dana Boarman, Joan Comfort, Alaine Carpenter, Whitney Dixon, Linda Lorenz, Judy Lowry, Laurel Sims, Marian Sims, Dr. Margit Sinka, Todd Burgess, Curtis Gamble, Molly Greene, Debbie Hammond, Lee Ferrell, Carol Ann Harmon, Todd Moore, Caroline Ogden, Valerie Summers, Dorothea Peiper, Don Pinkston, Warren and Betty Featherston, Susanne von Schenckendorff- Mattfelt, Zhao Qin, Bob Speziale, and Karen Ziegler have heard about my project for years.