Alice Carlotta Jackson
First African American to Apply to U.Va. (1935)
Alice Jackson Stuart was sure of one thing: She was just as smart as the Caucasian men and women who attended graduate school at the University of Virginia.
It was 1935, and when she applied to continue her education at U.Va., Stuart was the first known African-American to apply to a graduate school in Virginia. At age 22, she became the first African American to apply to the all-white University of Virginia. Small numbers of women had been admitted into the graduate and professional schools in earlier years, so the issue was her race rather than her gender.
U.Va. rejected her application based on her race.
But Stuart's efforts led to the creation of a state law that provided financial support for a generation of black Virginians who wanted to attend graduate school.
Stuart was born June 2, 1913, above her father's drugstore in Richmond's Jackson Ward. She was the oldest of three surviving children.
Her parents were college-educated and could afford the $10-a-month tuition to send her to Hartshorn Memorial College, a private college-preparatory school in Richmond where Maggie L. Walker Governor's School now stands. After graduating from Hartshorn, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Virginia Union University in Richmond 1934. After a year at Smith College in Massachusetts, she returned to Richmond and became an instructor at Virginia Union.
About the same time, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was arguing that taxpaying blacks had a right to attend the state colleges and universities they helped support. There were no black graduate or professional schools in Virginia.
Stuart applied to U.Va., and when the application was rejected, the NAACP took up her case. One of her lawyers was Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice.
To resolve the issue, the General Assembly established a tuition supplement to compensate for the difference in costs blacks would have to pay to attend schools outside of Virginia. Stuart used her grant - $75 and two round-trip train tickets each semester - to attend Columbia University in New York, where she graduated in 1937.
Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia's grant program unconstitutional and the state's public colleges were compelled to admit blacks to all programs.
Mary McLeod Bethune recruited Stuart to teach at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., where she began a 46-year teaching career that included stints at Maggie Walker and Armstrong high schools in Richmond.
Stuart's son by her first marriage, Julian T. Houston Jr., said his mother often talked about her efforts to enter U.Va. He said she felt what she did had been "overshadowed by the more dramatic protests of the 1960s."
Nevertheless, her home state has recognized the importance of what she did. In the late 1980s, the University of Virginia and black students enrolled there honored her. In 1990, the Virginia General Assembly honored her with a resolution commending her courageous act in the 1930s.
Her son, now a superior court judge in Massachusetts, said Stuart was "comfortable in the black community and the white community ... as comfortable with people on the street as she was with people in high places."
"It was a constant theme for me that I did not have to be tied down by the opinions of others, that I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve."
In early June 2001, Stuart's grandson graduated from Harvard University with a degree in sociology. Stuart could not attend the ceremony, but her grandson brought his diploma home to her, an educator who still valued learning.
Stuart died a week later, on June 13, 2001. She was 88.
Alice Jackson Stuart was married first to Julian Towns Houston, Sr. in April 1940, and they had one son, Julian Towns Houston. Her second marriage was to Dr. James Earle Stuart on November 12, 1960
First African American to Apply to U.Va. (1935)
Alice Jackson Stuart was sure of one thing: She was just as smart as the Caucasian men and women who attended graduate school at the University of Virginia.
It was 1935, and when she applied to continue her education at U.Va., Stuart was the first known African-American to apply to a graduate school in Virginia. At age 22, she became the first African American to apply to the all-white University of Virginia. Small numbers of women had been admitted into the graduate and professional schools in earlier years, so the issue was her race rather than her gender.
U.Va. rejected her application based on her race.
But Stuart's efforts led to the creation of a state law that provided financial support for a generation of black Virginians who wanted to attend graduate school.
Stuart was born June 2, 1913, above her father's drugstore in Richmond's Jackson Ward. She was the oldest of three surviving children.
Her parents were college-educated and could afford the $10-a-month tuition to send her to Hartshorn Memorial College, a private college-preparatory school in Richmond where Maggie L. Walker Governor's School now stands. After graduating from Hartshorn, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Virginia Union University in Richmond 1934. After a year at Smith College in Massachusetts, she returned to Richmond and became an instructor at Virginia Union.
About the same time, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was arguing that taxpaying blacks had a right to attend the state colleges and universities they helped support. There were no black graduate or professional schools in Virginia.
Stuart applied to U.Va., and when the application was rejected, the NAACP took up her case. One of her lawyers was Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice.
To resolve the issue, the General Assembly established a tuition supplement to compensate for the difference in costs blacks would have to pay to attend schools outside of Virginia. Stuart used her grant - $75 and two round-trip train tickets each semester - to attend Columbia University in New York, where she graduated in 1937.
Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia's grant program unconstitutional and the state's public colleges were compelled to admit blacks to all programs.
Mary McLeod Bethune recruited Stuart to teach at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., where she began a 46-year teaching career that included stints at Maggie Walker and Armstrong high schools in Richmond.
Stuart's son by her first marriage, Julian T. Houston Jr., said his mother often talked about her efforts to enter U.Va. He said she felt what she did had been "overshadowed by the more dramatic protests of the 1960s."
Nevertheless, her home state has recognized the importance of what she did. In the late 1980s, the University of Virginia and black students enrolled there honored her. In 1990, the Virginia General Assembly honored her with a resolution commending her courageous act in the 1930s.
Her son, now a superior court judge in Massachusetts, said Stuart was "comfortable in the black community and the white community ... as comfortable with people on the street as she was with people in high places."
"It was a constant theme for me that I did not have to be tied down by the opinions of others, that I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve."
In early June 2001, Stuart's grandson graduated from Harvard University with a degree in sociology. Stuart could not attend the ceremony, but her grandson brought his diploma home to her, an educator who still valued learning.
Stuart died a week later, on June 13, 2001. She was 88.
Alice Jackson Stuart was married first to Julian Towns Houston, Sr. in April 1940, and they had one son, Julian Towns Houston. Her second marriage was to Dr. James Earle Stuart on November 12, 1960
Alice Carlotta Jackson
First African American to Apply to U.Va. (1935)
Alice Jackson Stuart was sure of one thing: She was just as smart as the Caucasian men and women who attended graduate school at the University of Virginia.
It was 1935, and when she applied to continue her education at U.Va., Stuart was the first known African-American to apply to a graduate school in Virginia. At age 22, she became the first African American to apply to the all-white University of Virginia. Small numbers of women had been admitted into the graduate and professional schools in earlier years, so the issue was her race rather than her gender.
U.Va. rejected her application based on her race.
But Stuart's efforts led to the creation of a state law that provided financial support for a generation of black Virginians who wanted to attend graduate school.
Stuart was born June 2, 1913, above her father's drugstore in Richmond's Jackson Ward. She was the oldest of three surviving children.
Her parents were college-educated and could afford the $10-a-month tuition to send her to Hartshorn Memorial College, a private college-preparatory school in Richmond where Maggie L. Walker Governor's School now stands. After graduating from Hartshorn, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Virginia Union University in Richmond 1934. After a year at Smith College in Massachusetts, she returned to Richmond and became an instructor at Virginia Union.
About the same time, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was arguing that taxpaying blacks had a right to attend the state colleges and universities they helped support. There were no black graduate or professional schools in Virginia.
Stuart applied to U.Va., and when the application was rejected, the NAACP took up her case. One of her lawyers was Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice.
To resolve the issue, the General Assembly established a tuition supplement to compensate for the difference in costs blacks would have to pay to attend schools outside of Virginia. Stuart used her grant - $75 and two round-trip train tickets each semester - to attend Columbia University in New York, where she graduated in 1937.
Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia's grant program unconstitutional and the state's public colleges were compelled to admit blacks to all programs.
Mary McLeod Bethune recruited Stuart to teach at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., where she began a 46-year teaching career that included stints at Maggie Walker and Armstrong high schools in Richmond.
Stuart's son by her first marriage, Julian T. Houston Jr., said his mother often talked about her efforts to enter U.Va. He said she felt what she did had been "overshadowed by the more dramatic protests of the 1960s."
Nevertheless, her home state has recognized the importance of what she did. In the late 1980s, the University of Virginia and black students enrolled there honored her. In 1990, the Virginia General Assembly honored her with a resolution commending her courageous act in the 1930s.
Her son, now a superior court judge in Massachusetts, said Stuart was "comfortable in the black community and the white community ... as comfortable with people on the street as she was with people in high places."
"It was a constant theme for me that I did not have to be tied down by the opinions of others, that I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve."
In early June 2001, Stuart's grandson graduated from Harvard University with a degree in sociology. Stuart could not attend the ceremony, but her grandson brought his diploma home to her, an educator who still valued learning.
Stuart died a week later, on June 13, 2001. She was 88.
Alice Jackson Stuart was married first to Julian Towns Houston, Sr. in April 1940, and they had one son, Julian Towns Houston. Her second marriage was to Dr. James Earle Stuart on November 12, 1960
First African American to Apply to U.Va. (1935)
Alice Jackson Stuart was sure of one thing: She was just as smart as the Caucasian men and women who attended graduate school at the University of Virginia.
It was 1935, and when she applied to continue her education at U.Va., Stuart was the first known African-American to apply to a graduate school in Virginia. At age 22, she became the first African American to apply to the all-white University of Virginia. Small numbers of women had been admitted into the graduate and professional schools in earlier years, so the issue was her race rather than her gender.
U.Va. rejected her application based on her race.
But Stuart's efforts led to the creation of a state law that provided financial support for a generation of black Virginians who wanted to attend graduate school.
Stuart was born June 2, 1913, above her father's drugstore in Richmond's Jackson Ward. She was the oldest of three surviving children.
Her parents were college-educated and could afford the $10-a-month tuition to send her to Hartshorn Memorial College, a private college-preparatory school in Richmond where Maggie L. Walker Governor's School now stands. After graduating from Hartshorn, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Virginia Union University in Richmond 1934. After a year at Smith College in Massachusetts, she returned to Richmond and became an instructor at Virginia Union.
About the same time, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was arguing that taxpaying blacks had a right to attend the state colleges and universities they helped support. There were no black graduate or professional schools in Virginia.
Stuart applied to U.Va., and when the application was rejected, the NAACP took up her case. One of her lawyers was Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice.
To resolve the issue, the General Assembly established a tuition supplement to compensate for the difference in costs blacks would have to pay to attend schools outside of Virginia. Stuart used her grant - $75 and two round-trip train tickets each semester - to attend Columbia University in New York, where she graduated in 1937.
Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia's grant program unconstitutional and the state's public colleges were compelled to admit blacks to all programs.
Mary McLeod Bethune recruited Stuart to teach at Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Fla., where she began a 46-year teaching career that included stints at Maggie Walker and Armstrong high schools in Richmond.
Stuart's son by her first marriage, Julian T. Houston Jr., said his mother often talked about her efforts to enter U.Va. He said she felt what she did had been "overshadowed by the more dramatic protests of the 1960s."
Nevertheless, her home state has recognized the importance of what she did. In the late 1980s, the University of Virginia and black students enrolled there honored her. In 1990, the Virginia General Assembly honored her with a resolution commending her courageous act in the 1930s.
Her son, now a superior court judge in Massachusetts, said Stuart was "comfortable in the black community and the white community ... as comfortable with people on the street as she was with people in high places."
"It was a constant theme for me that I did not have to be tied down by the opinions of others, that I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve."
In early June 2001, Stuart's grandson graduated from Harvard University with a degree in sociology. Stuart could not attend the ceremony, but her grandson brought his diploma home to her, an educator who still valued learning.
Stuart died a week later, on June 13, 2001. She was 88.
Alice Jackson Stuart was married first to Julian Towns Houston, Sr. in April 1940, and they had one son, Julian Towns Houston. Her second marriage was to Dr. James Earle Stuart on November 12, 1960
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