Integration at UK

Lyman Johnson, 1949

The University of Kentucky was one of the first southern institutions of higher education to desegregate their graduate school when Lyman Johnson and the NAACP successfully sued the university for denying Johnson an education in 1949 - five years before the U.S. Supreme Court would declare racial segregation in education unconstitutional.

But, although UK was one of the first southern institutions to desegregate their graduate school, the road to full integration and racial equality within the universtiy was a long and painful process that took most of the 20th century.

UK's student population remained over 90% white through the mid-1980s, and the University was subsequently forced to devise a desegregation action plan by the Federal government for failure to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

When facing these numbers one needs to ask, "What is Real Change?" The following exhibit explores the often-messy path the University of Kentucky took through racial desegregation under Federal law and the course to real equality.

Pictured are a compilation of African American student leaders during the 1960s and 70s - a pinnacle moment in the fight for equality - not just desegregation - at the University of Kentucky. Top left: Sharon Strong, explained working with UK's choir helped her forget "all the outside hassles" like racial discrimination. Top-middle and bottom-left: African American students protest outside of a UK basketball game in 1968 while students inside wave Confederate flags to protest desegregation in the SEC. Top Right: Charlene Himes and Jerome White were leaders of the university's black Greek community. Their organizations focused on community projects, 1975. Bottom right: an AKA girl - a historically black sorority - represents her organization letters.

Prior to the mid-20th century, the state of Kentucky and UK as a university were rigidly segregated by race. Housing and schools were strictly segregated, and African Americans experienced intense discrimination in Lexington and across the United States.

Integrating Black and white students into the University of Kentucky was not a simple nor easy process, and the issue was not solved by a court's decision - although this was an important first step.  The act of desegregating the University of Kentucky and the nation required multiple lawsuits, public protest, and student action groups to create an atmosphere of true equality.