Silas Herbert Hunt (March 1, 1922 – April 22, 1949) was a U.S. veteran of World War II who became the first African American student to enroll in a white Southern university since the Reconstruction era. He enrolled in the University of Arkansas School of Law on Feb. 2, 1948, breaking the color barrier in higher education and starting integration of colleges and universities in the South.
Early life
Hunt was born near Ashdown, Arkansas, the son of Jessie Gulley Moton and R.D. Hunt. His family moved to Texarkana, Arkansas, in 1936 when he was 14, and he attended Booker T. Washington High School. He was president of the student council and a member of the debate team, graduating in 1941 as the class salutatorian.
Military career
He enrolled at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College in Pine Bluff, but his studies were cut short when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in the fall of 1942 for service during World War II. He was assigned to Company C of the 732nd Field Artillery Battalion, which was redesignated as part the 1695th Engineer Combat Battalion. The battalion was based at Fort Picket, where they trained in road and bridge building as well as combat principles. The battalion was assigned to the XVIII Corps, and Hunt was promoted to sergeant prior to leaving for Europe.
The battalion shipped to England in October 1944, arriving at Newport, Wales, on Nov. 2 and Companies B and C traveled to Ivybridge, England, where training related to Bailey Bridges continued until early January. The battalion moved onto continental Europe on Jan. 9 and, as a result of a transportation mistake, ended up on the French-Belgian border amid the latter stages of the Battle of the Bulge. Hunt was seriously wounded during this period and was evacuated to an English hospital. He was honorably discharged on March 7, 1946.
Arkansas AM&N
After the war, Hunt returned to Arkansas AM&N to complete his degree. Prior to the war, he worked several jobs to pay for college but afterward earned scholarships to pay for the rest of his undergraduate education. He graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
At the time, Arkansas like many Southern universities, offered to pay for schooling for African American students who wanted to attend out-of-state graduate or professional programs not being offered to them in the state. Hunt initially planned to take advantage of that policy, applying and being accepted to the Indiana University School of Law, but the actions of a classmate, Ada Lois Sipuel, caused him to reconsider. Sipuel had applied to the all-white University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1946. She was turned down because of race and she subsequently sued the university. Her case came before the U.S. Supreme Court in early 1948, and it ruled in her favor on January 12. She didn't start classes until the next year, but the case had an effect on Hunt, who sought admission to the University of Arkansas rather than go to Indiana.
University of Arkansas
Desegregation
Originally known as the Arkansas Industrial University, the University of Arkansas enrolled at least one and possibly up to three Black students during the Reconstruction era, in 1872 and 1873, its first two years of operation. James McGahee of Augusta, Arkansas enrolled within about two weeks of the university's opening. The university's Board of Trustees, which debated who should be allowed to enroll, voted to open the institution to all "regardless of sex, sect or race." By the end of 1873, though, the name of McGahee no longer appeared in the university's rolls of students. The opening of a Branch Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and the end of Reconstruction in the state appear to have dissuaded Black students from trying to enroll at the Fayetteville campus for the next 55 years.
In 1938, Edward W. Jacko of Little Rock submitted an application, but it was turned down, ostensibly because his undergraduate degree from Talladega College was from an institution that wasn't properly accredited.