ONE QUESTION

The UGA Mary Frances Early College of Education is honored to bear Ms. Early’s name in perpetuity and to commemorate her legacy of service to others. Thanks to her historic achievement as the first African American graduate of UGA, thousands of students have been able to attend the University and practice what they love on a daily basis. We asked four individuals what the naming means to them.

FRIEND

Charlayne Hunter-Gault (A.B.J. ’63)

Journalist and author; first African American student to attend UGA along with Hamilton Holmes (B.S. ’63)

It should have come as no surprise that Mary Frances Early would join Hamilton Holmes and me as the first Black students at the University of Georgia. We had so many things in common, not least parents who refused to allow the lie of separate but equal determine who we were. Like my parents and Hamilton's, the parents of Mary Frances taught her from an early age the importance of education and the role it plays in enabling us, among other things, to see ourselves as first-class citizens and therefore to pursue whatever dreams we dared to dream. I call that armor—the kind that was reinforced at Henry McNeil Turner, the high school Mary Frances attended and graduated from a few years ahead of Hamilton and me.

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes both graduated from the same high school as Early where the three were acquaintances. After Hunter and Holmes were admitted to UGA, a riot erupted on campus. Above, the beleaguered students enter North Campus, surrounded by protestors and press.

Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes both graduated from the same high school as Early where the three were acquaintances. After Hunter and Holmes were admitted to UGA, a riot erupted on campus. Above, the beleaguered students enter North Campus, surrounded by protestors and press.

It was there that each of us gained additional layers of armor as we learned about and were inspired by pioneers, like Henry McNeal Turner and Ida B. Wells, who fought to ensure the dreams of our people would be realized. And so, it was that Mary Frances, like Hamilton and me, learned well all those lessons, as my and her other classmates used to sing during the Civil Rights Movement, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round” by The Freedom Singers. Like Mary Frances, I spent a summer term on UGA’s campus as the lone Black student, so I know what it took for her not only to survive, but to prosper and realize her dream so she would be prepared to help others like her pursue theirs. Our history propelled our dreams and was the company we kept—comforting company in an otherwise uncomfortable place. And thanks to her steadfast determination, Mary Frances kept her eye on the prize of becoming an educator to replicate on a vastly larger scale the lessons she learned first in the comfort of her family home.

And now, just as she, Hamilton and I learned about Henry McNeil Turner and Ida B. Wells and other pioneers, young people at UGA and generations yet to come will learn of Mary Frances Early and the timeless values she embraced. And while this naming was made during Black History Month, I have always maintained that our history should be widely taught and not be marked for just one month but for 365 days of the year. And so, it will be for generations yet to come on the campus of the University of Georgia, thanks to the naming of the Mary Frances Early College of Education and the reason for it. Thank you, good sister—my pride in you and all you have achieved is boundless! May those generations yet to come learn and prosper from your legacy.

Photo of Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes

FACULTY

Sheneka Williams

Associate professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education’s Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy

Mary Frances Early is a trailblazer who epitomizes courage and class. She is a quiet warrior who yields ringing results. Knowing what I know about Ms. Early’s courage and her career as an educator, it makes me proud to be part of a college community that bears her name. More importantly, I am excited about how the College—in terms of its work and its actions—will reflect Ms. Early’s legacy.

I listened to an interview in which Ms. Early described her graduation day from the University of Georgia. She described herself as being the “only Black” in a “sea of whiteness.” I listened to that interview, and I felt encouraged by what I see at graduation almost 60 years later. I see a college that graduates the second most doctoral students at the University of Georgia and an increasing number of those graduates are African Americans. I see a more racially and ethnically diverse faculty. More specifically, I am a faculty member in a program in which two African American faculty will join this fall.

So, when I think of the College’s naming, I think of continuous improvement. There are areas in which the College needs to be more courageous—such as in the recruitment and retention of African American students, males in particular, and more leadership roles among African American faculty. Regardless, I am optimistic about bigger and bolder strides in the Mary Frances Early College of Education, and I wait expectantly because we have a college community that cannot accept less. At the end of the day, we owe it to the College’s name and to Ms. Early herself.

Sheneka Williams

Tonya Cornileus (M.Ed. ’04, Ph.D. ’09)

ALUMNA

Tonya Cornileus (M.Ed. ’04, Ph.D. ’09)

Vice President, Development, Inclusion & Wellness, ESPN

I traveled from Connecticut to Athens to attend the naming ceremony of the College of Education in honor of Mary Frances Early. This historic occasion was a fitting tribute to a woman who made a deliberate choice to blaze a trail for people like me who would come behind her and pursue graduate studies at the University of Georgia. I am beyond grateful.

When I learned of the circumstances surrounding Ms. Early’s decision to transfer from the University of Michigan and join her fellow Turner high school alumni, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, in desegregating UGA, I could only think of how brave, tenacious, and compassionate she was and is to set aside her comfort to ensure a path for others. I walked the hallways of the College bearing her name and read of her journey. I smiled, and I cried. I am proud to know her and to be a beneficiary of her legacy.

I am also thankful to UGA, President Morehead, Dean Spangler, and all who joined in this effort to recognize history in the making. More importantly, I am inspired by Ms. Early to do my part to pave the way for others who will come behind me. The naming of the College in her honor will be a constant reminder to me that one person can make a difference, and everyone should try.

GRADUATE STUDENT

Briana Bivens (M.Ed. ’16, Ph.D. ’22)

Doctoral student in the Mary Frances Early College of Education’s Department of Educational Theory and Practice

The naming of the Mary Frances Early College of Education signals a powerful and important step in the history of our College and University. To honor Mary Frances Early—an amazing, brilliant, and brave educator and civil rights activist—is to open ourselves up to being held accountable for the decisions we make each and every day as community members of the College, University, and the city of Athens. I see this naming as a charge to live up to Ms. Early’s legacy of social justice and community-building, even in the face of strong and powerful interests that may try to intervene along the way.

I take it as a welcome mandate to conduct my research, scholarship, and advocacy in ways that actively refuse white supremacy, sexism, and xenophobia in all the ways they’re maintained and justified at interpersonal, institutional, and societal scales. Ms. Early’s courage and conviction inspire in me a renewed commitment to movements on UGA’s campus and in the Athens community that are aimed at recognizing and redressing historical harms that persist today, such that we might inspire more just futures that work for everyone. It is an honor to be a student in the Mary Frances Early College of Education.