Making Space: Fighting for Inclusion, Building Community at UGA

Charlene Hunter and Hamilton Holmes being interviewed as they tried to attend UGA
Exhibit Duration
January 2021 - July 2021

Making Space: Fighting for Inclusion, Building Community at UGA  chronicles the journey of students advocating for a more inclusive learning environment at the University of Georgia over the past six decades. The exhibit begins with the experiences of Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter (now Hunter-Gault), the first Black students to enroll at UGA in 1961, as well as other early path-breakers such as Horace Ward, the first Black applicant to the law school, and Mary Frances Early, UGA’s first Black graduate. Located in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s gallery at Special Collections, the display continues by exploring the advocacy of individuals and student groups for racial and social justice into the 21st century.

Through memorabilia, photographs, and official documents from university archives, Making Space illustrates the adversity Black and LGBTQ+ students faced, along with their work to gain opportunities in classrooms, in athletics, and in campus life. In addition, QR codes connect visitors directly with the men and women who lived those experiences through the Black Alumni Oral History Project and newsfilm footage from the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection.