The Civil Rights Movement

In 1954, after a series of legal fights challenging segregation, the Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of schools was unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education. Despite the victory for the Civil Rights Movement, few schools in the South rushed to integrate. LSU and other southern universities were also slow to admit Black students. Louisiana went so far as to create a scholarship program that would send Black graduate students to other states for their education.  

During the early 1950s, the courts forced LSU to admit the first Black students into its post-graduate programs. The law school admitted Roy S. Wilson in 1950. The graduate school admitted Lutrill A. Payne in 1951. And the medical school admitted Daryle E. Foister in 1952. In 1953, A.P. Turead, Jr. was denied entry as an undergraduate student and sued the university. He won and attended for six weeks, before a higher court reversed the order. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in Turead's favor, but he was already a junior at Xavier University and had no interest in returning to LSU. Not until 1964 did LSU begin to admit Black undergraduates and even then, they faced discrimination from white students and faculty.  

The library has extensive holdings related to the integration of LSU.  Included below are first-hand accounts from the first Black students who attended LSU, the legal cases that forced LSU to integrate, and internal university documentation on the integration process. Some notable works include the papers of A.P. Tureaud, university archives on incidents of discrimination on campus, early Black student organizations, and oral histories that complement these sources. 

College integration--Louisiana.

Minorities--Education (Higher)--Louisiana.

African Americans -- Civil rights -- Louisiana.

African Americans -- Education (Higher) -- Louisiana.

Consent decrees -- United States.

Discrimination in education -- Law and legislation -- Louisiana.