University of South Carolina
September 20, 2012
uscTIMES
A publication for faculty, staff and friends of the university
USC Times
Stories, snippets & scenes from the
University of South Carolina. Aiken
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Beaufort
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Columbia
Colum
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remembering ’63 Robert Anderson and James Solomon Jr.—arrived outside
tered the university—without in-
the Osborne administration building. A police escort led
cidence of violence, as had been
them through town and they were shadowed by a plain-
experienced at other universities
clothes security detail once they emerged. They also had
in the South.
9/9/2 0 1 3
Tensions sometimes flared as
wanting to witness the enrollment of the first three black students ad-
the formerly all-white university
mitted to the University of South Carolina since Reconstruction.
became increasingly diverse, with Anderson, in particular,
just walking forward and doing what I had to do,” says Monteith (now
regularly being harassed by white
Treadwell), whose lawsuit that year had finally budged the gates of
classmates unwilling to embrace
the university, making it accessible to qualified applicants of all races,
change. But for each setback there
including Anderson and Solomon.
were multiple steps forward as the
On Sept. 11, 1963 (dubbed ‘I-Day’ at the time) all three students
Upstate
BRANDHORST
signed up for courses and en-
“Obviously there was a crowd everywhere we went, but I recall
at e i o n / U p st
the inside
BY CRAIG
ifty years ago, three incoming students—Henrie Monteith,
an audience: reporters, soon-to-be classmates and others
on
university at last transformed itself into a truly modern institution.
Henrie Monteith Treadwell "Other universities in other Southern states had already integrated. I think we thought that maybe the university would take the low road and say, ‘Okay, let’s just let her in because it’s going that way anyway.’ And my sense is that if they had just said, ‘Okay, you can come,’ I probably would not have. But once they said ‘no’— for no good reason—it became a different issue. There was
“There was no
no explanation, just a letter: not accepted. The next step became obvious.
explanation, just a letter: not accepted. ”
Overall, I had a great experience at Carolina. I got the education that I needed as a citizen and as an individual. Certainly mine was a more closed, more isolated
Robert Anderson (Deceased) Harassed by classmates, Robert Anderson
and insular experience than many had, but it gave me an
joined USC’s debate team to prove himself in
opportunity to explore the depth of my own character."
a forum where the focus would be on his abil-
Jim Solomon "There were a lot of reporters. That picture of Robert, Henrie and I coming out of Osborne? That’s us on our way to a press conference. I think all of us were nervous, but Henrie and Robert were much younger. I was 33 years old at the time. I’d been in the Air Force when it was desegregated. My thought was, ‘You’re going to say something stupid and look stupid to everybody, even to you." Photos courtesy of University of South Carolina Archives and the Daily Gamecock.
ity rather than the color of his skin. However, he remained embittered about his time at USC until he returned to campus for the 25th anniversary of the school’s desegregation in 1988 and saw how much had changed. “I had to talk him into going,” says Susan Raskin, Anderson’s companion of 22 years. “I explained that that was the way to help himself, to go back and tell his story. It’s important to share it with others, which is what he did."