Black History Month 2021
- Wednesday, February 24, 2021 5:45 PM
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As we consider Black History Month, William Carey has played a significant role in local events. When Pearl River Boarding School (Carey’s earliest predecessor) was established in 1892 the 1890 constitution had just been adopted by the Mississippi legislature, including many of the Jim Crow provisions common to most southern constitutions. Professor Thames was not willing to fly the state flag, which contained the confederate battle flag, and therefore, William Carey never flew the state flag over its campus until the new “In God we Trust” magnolia flag was approved in January.
Dr. Olivia Burkett was a pioneer faculty member in psychology. She has been a source of support and encouragement not only to black students but to all students. She has traveled to five states and the following foreign countries engaging in research on dyslexia: Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Jordan, Sweden, Dubai, and Mexico City. She has spoken at conferences in many of these locations and was published in the International Journal of Autism & Related Disabilities on December 3, 2020. Congratulations Dr. Burkett for your many years of commitment to WCU.
The bombing of the Dahmer home was one of the most tragic events in Hattiesburg history. Because Mr. Vernon Dahmer led voter registration drives throughout the county the Ku Klux Klan bombed his home and Mr. Dahmer died from the resulting fire. Dr. J. Ralph Noonkester, the long time president of Carey, was president of the Hattiesburg Chamber of Commerce and Dr. Noonkester led the drive to raise money and rebuild the Dahmer home.
In Feb. of 1965 the William Carey College Board of Trustees voted to remove limits on acceptance of African-American students, making Carey the first all-white college in Mississippi to voluntarily desegregate (public colleges had desegregated under court order.) Likewise, William Carey was the first Baptist College in the deep south to desegregate. The students were Vermester Jackson (Bester) and Linda Cross (Williams). The Jackson-Cross Garden near the entrance to Lucille Parker Gallery marks this historic occasion.
