- School
- Segregation
- 1962–1963
- DeKalb County
- General area only
Emory's desegregation case (1962)
Emory, a private university, went to court for the right to admit Black students without losing its state tax exemption. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled for it on September 14, 1962.
The record
A 1917 state law threatened the tax-exempt status of private schools that admitted both Black and white students (NGE). In Emory University v. Nash the Georgia Supreme Court found that the conflicting racial provisos 'neutralize and destroy each other' and held that Emory 'can accept colored students without jeopardizing its tax exemptions'. Verdelle Bellamy and Allie Saxon became the first Black students at the nursing school in 1963 (Emory Libraries). Hamilton Holmes, who had desegregated the University of Georgia, entered the medical school in fall 1963 as its first Black student (NGE). Emory admitted its first Black undergraduate in fall 1963 (NGE).
Today: Emory's Druid Hills campus, in DeKalb County (annexed into the City of Atlanta in 2018).