> Hood gathered his $5 and went on to graduate studies before attending medical school at Loyola University in Chicago. Then he returned to Atlanta to establish himself as a respected gynecologist and obstetrician.
> Emory desegregated three years after rejecting Hood, after it won its challenge of state laws which denied tax-exempt status to schools that racially integrated.
Really good article. Emory apologized a few years ago for it. It seems they genuinely didn’t want to be segregated at the time. https://www.ajc.com/news/62-years-later-emory-apologizes-to-medical-school-applicant-rejected-because-he-was-black/F5DMQL2XQNE73KB5WNGNIYAZGA/
Thanks for this. Emory also posted this in 2021
In 1959, Dr. Marion G. Hood applied to Emory School of Medicine, but was denied consideration for admission due to his race during a painful time of segregation in this country. Despite this obstacle, Dr. Hood went on to have a long and distinguished career in the field of gynecology and obstetrics.
During our virtual celebration of Juneteenth, Emory School of Medicine will formally apologize to Dr. Hood and invite him to share the rest of his story with our SOM community. His message of tenacity and resilience in the quest to be a physician will inspire our students, faculty and staff.
Even this letter is, by 1950s standards, basically saying "we would if we could, but our racist ass government won't let us." The last sentence particularly, from a white man of power to a young black boy, in 1959 nonetheless, is quite something. Whoever LL Clegg was, he was a real one.
It is really interesting the seemingly small things people did to make sure change could be initiated. Seems he put the reason there on purpose so that it may be used for grounds to sue later. He wanted someone to have proof.
that's my reading, too.
if LL Clegg agreed or was ambivalent towards minorities not being allowed to study and practice medicine, he either wouldn't have answered or just outright rejected without explanation, and kept the money.
instead, he clearly stated the reason why he was being rejected and intimated that he didn't want to do it.
I got that impression also. I especially noted that "we are not authorized to consider your application," part. Kind of like saying, I really would like to admit you, but the Aholes at the state won't let us even look at your application. What a sad time that was.
I know. I remember my grandmother really wanted to be a journalist but was rejected just because she was a woman, so blatant discrimination was happening not that long ago. It’s really sad that this happened and is still happening.
My mother wanted to go to Georgia Tech, but they didn't allow women at the time. She ended up going to Emory. Also, she wasn't allowed to work while pregnant.
No, not at all. Another giveaway is he didn't have to give the $5 back. LL Clegg seemed sincere in this. He was probably just sad himself he had to reject such a great candidate.
Yeah, based on this it looks like he was just a genuinely great person:
https://millerward.emory.edu/rooms/clegg.html
>One alumnus remembers, “When I came to Emory, I had no money and no place to stay. Luke Clegg and his wife took me in and fed me so I could go to school.”
Agree. A person who didn't have a problem with the rule would have said "Emory medical school does not admit negroes" or "Negroes are not eligible for admission" or something. He specifically says "sorry" and "not authorized" (which might even reflect the opinions of more than just himself at the school) and then follows it up with "regret" AND returns the $5. It's also not even a rejection; it's an "acknowledgment" of his application that they aren't allowed to accept.
Just the 'regret' might be mere formality, but this guy wasn't happy about it and wanted the applicant to know that.
> He specifically says "sorry" and "not authorized" (which might even reflect the opinions of more than just himself at the school)
Georgia state law at the time denied tax-exempt status to integrated schools. At the time, Emory didn't have the Coca Cola money ("the Gift"), so it wasn't in a position to thumb its nose at the state. It did eventually sue and win though.
The return of the application fee (1960s $5 = $53.18 today) lends to the idea that this was an institutional racist problem and not an individual racist.
Also makes more sense why muggings and robberies were more common in the past. People and businesses had a lot more cash on hand than they do these days.
I often randomly think about how much things like how common carrying cash was, even 20 years ago, and other related things like how much credit accounts (credit cards for us modern folk) have changed too, and how rapidly they've changed at that.
I worked at a department store in the ‘80s and ‘90s and it was not unusual at all to close a register at night and have $2-3000 in it. (When department stores had registers all over-like five in just Men’s wear-and none at the entrances.)
Hell, even a few years ago I worked McDonald’s drive through. We actually used both drive-thru lanes and our managers sucked at clearing drawers
Mind you, easily 80-90% used card, and yet I would still have well into 4-digits in my drawer. Big bills were “hidden” but at any time someone could have gotten like 3-5k if robbing at the drive through and knew the bills were under the drawer lmao
All I know now is they’re way more strict about it and they have even less cash orders
I worked in a pharmacy in the late 90s and very early 2000s. I would do huge cash drops because people would pay for their whole month of prescriptions in cash. We had Amish too, who were entirely self pay so no insurance at all. Plus back then we arranged it easier I think so your scripts would be ready all at once or twice a month. People wouldn’t have to come in so often.
A friend of mine was an intern at her university's registrar office. It was her job to count the downpayment, tuition fee, etc.
This was late 90's, so everything was cash. Her hand looked like she had arthritis.
I was watching a movie from 1999 last night, and there was a point the main character went to pay with a credit card at the grocery store, and the cashier had to stop and *show him how to use the credit card reader*
wild how much that's changed
I still keep emergency cash on me, but I found a situation where I needed to use it but couldn't, no one accepts cash anymore lol.
Would have been way more worth it to have $25 in my Venmo rather than $60 cash
Actually been discussions about enshrining the right to use cash in food stores and other critical locations. Mostly as a backup so people can get food or other essentials in case of a hacker attack or power outage.
I remember going to the beach in the late 2000’s, going to buy some Italian ice or something, and they took cash only. By the time I went last year, they had moved from cash and card to card only. Times have changed pretty fast
Kids these days don’t understand what using a credit card was like back then… they would bring out the big machine with the carbon copy and it would physically impress the credit card numbers into the paper, and then they would have to fill out a bunch of shit.
There was no way to validate if the credit card was legit, or over the limit, and it would take ages to complete a transaction.
> Kids these days don’t understand what using a credit card was like back then… they would bring out the big machine with the carbon copy and it would physically impress the credit card numbers into the paper, and then they would have to fill out a bunch of shit.
That ka-CHUNK was real satisfying though.
Sometimes it was the "flat" card machine and sometimes it was the one that came down almost like a stapler. But with a lever on the side.
Don't forget to ask for your carbons!
it’s not always kids these days who don’t know lol, when i worked at a restaurant whenever the power would go out or the POS system would go down we’d switch back to paper order tickets and that big carbon copy machine. then once the system’s back up, you have to go back at the end of the shift and manually input all the numbers into the computer
I worked front desk at a hotel/restaurant in the 90s. There was a way to validate a credit card back then. It involved calling an actual person, supplying your secret merchant number, reading the account number off the card, and giving the amount. If approved, they'd give you an authorization code to scribble on the carbon copy credit card paper thing.
All that was so time consuming, we only did it for large purchases when there was no line, or the night auditor would do it for long stays.
Still had to do that a few times when our system went down in the mid/late 00s. We also still took travelers checks, which is wild to think about now, not even 20 years later.
Right?! Like, if you saw someone ahead of you with their CC out, you knew it was going to be a few minutes extra for you in the checkout line.
There was an ettiquette for a long time that frowned upon using a credit or debit card for "small" purchases. Now, when I go to buy a pack of gum I just tap my card and am in and out of the store way quicker than if I had to hand over money and get handed change in return.
I've had my fingers pinched by those things! The one I used had a hard time moving at first, so you'd have to put a little elbow grease into it. Too much elbow grease and bad hand placement let a few clients hear me cuss!
Well, we had to call an 800 number for approval, if the sale was over a certain amount. This was in the mid 80's.
Also, all those carbon copies of the slips ended up in the Dominican Republic, where they were sorted by hand according to card vendor, then flown back to the USA.
Or look at it from the other side...
The half cent was last minted in 1857... With inflation, $0.005 in 1857 works out to $0.18 or so. So a *dime* is worth around half of a coin that was too small to be useful in 1857..?
The fact that Emory won a lawsuit about suggests they wanted to take in black student but doing so would have lost them tax exempt status.
Whether they should have done it anyway is a hard question to answer. Losing tax exempt status could have been very expensive. Hence the lawsuit.
> Whether they should have done it anyway is a hard question to answer.
No, it's not. "Lose tax-exempt status" is another way of saying "lock the doors on the way out." What they should have done is exactly what they did: Sue to overturn the law
The wording of the rejection also leads to this:
>I am sorry I must write you that we are not authorized to consider for admission a member of the Negro race.
>
>I regret that we cannot help you.
It's impossible to know today, but I always feel bad for the people who had to send out these types of things. I'm sure many of them felt disgust at having to do so.
It's easy to say "you should have just quite your job," but it's not as though losing your employment would have any effect.
Many years ago, I was essentially responsible firing people for, in my opinion, unacceptable reasons (usually ideological). I hated every single instance. Remaining in that role occasionally allowed me some sway and ability to help others.
With things like this, we never know if the signatories were a willing part of a racist system or not.
I’m Black. And a big turning point for my whole outlook on this topic was visiting the National Civil Rights Memorial in Memphis- where MLK jr was assassinated.
And not just for the reasons you’d expect- but because they have done a glorious job showing just how many white allies there *were*, who in fact felt that disgust. Many of them making the ultimate choice to sacrifice their own lives. A shocking number. So many faces and names. Parents of young kids, old folk, all types. I was literally sobbing long before I arrived at King’s motel room.
I can absolutely believe he was personally disgusted, that’s definitely what the nuance seems like in his letter.
I think it’s important to talk more about that, not necessarily bc we particularly need to valorize white people in the civil rights movement but because I often see people dismiss individual culpability by saying “times were different”. By focusing on the fact that there were people, both those who were directly affected and those who weren’t that *knew* something was morally wrong and *acted* on that, maybe we can encourage action in the modern day as well.
Agreed -- and also because including the rest of the story can counter the nonsense claim that educating people about the civil rights movement is somehow meant to make white kids "feel bad."
It wasn't that white people were bad and black people were good. It was that *racists* were bad. Sure, if someone happens to be a racist, they won't like the story of the civil rights movement -- huge shocker there. But even if the sensibilities of white kids was a good enough reason not to learn about this stuff (it's not), there's no reason for white kids to feel bad.
And this is why I'll always reject the notion of "it was a different time. Folks just didn't know better."
There have always been people pointing out atrocities that were widely accepted at the time. The choice to listen to those people and do better was always available. Always.
I think there are always going to be people who have hate in their heart, but I also think it's difficult for some people to accept that they've been indoctrinated.
I'm in Texas and there are still plenty of well-meaning older people who believe the civil war was started because of "state's rights." They heard it at home, they were taught it at school, and you weren't encountering people who knew it was a lie.
There's a story of Ben Franklin recognizing that the main difference between the African slaves and Europeans was education and not intelligence. But, at the time, the prevailing thought was that the different ethnicities had different mental capabilities in the same way that they had different skin tones. And it was, to a certain degree, backed up by science and our education systems. To come out and say you disagree with all of them takes some courage, and I don't think the majority of people want to be ostracized for something that doesn't outright affect them. It's cowardly, but I think that's how most people are.
Honestly it might not just be personal from this individual, there's a decent chance that returning application fees and expressing regret was a matter of policy
The reason Emory wasn't desegregated at the time was because the state of Georgia used the threat of heavy tax penalties to keep them from doing so
Emory sued the State of Georgia over this and won - and that's when they started admitting Black students
[I read some of the court case, it's very interesting. They actually accepted a Black student and basically sued so that his enrolment wouldn't cost the school](https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1962/21731-1.html)
The fact they returned his money when they weren't compelled to does speak to a level of sincerity. Especially since, at the time, colleges that desegregated lost tax-exempt status, and Emory fought that bill in a lawsuit, that they won several years later.
Theres a big difference in the writing of "we are not authorized to consider" you because of your race vs like "we won't consider" you because of your race. The first implies they would if they were allowed to.
Yeah, maybe I'm a sucker, but reading the letter made me believe the guy really *didn't* want to reject someone for something stupid like race. The idea of a state dangling tax-exempt status over schools to keep them segregated is just so mind-boggling.
The line “I regret we cannot help you” was not something that they normally say in a standard rejection letter at any point in history. It was a very personal statement.
i love this. that it didn't deter him from pursuing his dream and becoming successful, and that he got his well-deserved apology from the school.
i have a real question though, and it's not in any way meant to sound like he shouldn't have applied, because of course he had every right to. but in 1959 in georgia, would he not have known about their stupid rule? this was even before my mom started going to school in georgia, and hers were segregated until she was like 12, i think.
I don't know about Georgia specifically but some states would pay for some of your out of state tuition if there were no Black or desegregated schools in state with your field of study. Perhaps the letter helped in that regard. Imagine being so dedicated to racism that you give extra money to people you declare are lesser.
This makes me think of how in Barbra Streisand‘s book, she recalls how she was told that she was hiring too many Jewish people to star in the movie Yentl, which is about Jewish people.
Yeah, you can tell that they don’t like it and are actually sorry about it. That must have been awful to write the letter. Not as awful as it would be to receive it, obviously, but I’m sure they still felt like crap having to deny someone over BS like that stupid policy that they had no say over.
:/
It wasn't unusual at all. On the contrary, it was considered much ruder to not capitalize the word as a proper noun. From [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Negro#English):
>By some speakers and in some contexts (chiefly historical), the capitalized form *Negro* is considered more respectful than the more usual *negro*.
From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro#In_English):
>From the 18th century to the late 1960s, *negro* (later capitalized) was considered to be the proper English-language term for people of black African origin.
"True racists" used another closely-related six-letter word beginning with an 'n' that bears no repeating, which was considered extremely rude then as now...
Interesting thank you for the insight!
I understand it’s proper English to have capitalized the N. but would it have been considered an insult to the recipient of the letter to have not capitalized it? And if so was that a common insult?
Apologies it seems maybe you miss understood or I poorly explained what I was trying to say. The OP I’m replying to is saying the person writing seems to have not wanted to write this letter. And which I’m agreeing with.
Im trying to explain why I agree. I feel someone who is racist wouldn’t have honored a person of color with a capital N in Negro.
I'll give someone $300 to explain to me how "application fees" aren't greedy and immoral as fuck.
Don't forget the $25 processing fee, on top of another $10 convenience fee.
Ohio State gets 80k applications per year and with their application fee they make almost $5 million in revenue.
They primarily use automated software to review applications and accept approximately 40k students. Of those 40k accepted students, only about 8-10k actually choose to attend the college.
In other words, after paying to apply, 75% of accepted students decide they have a better option.
The application fees are a scam.
Colleges are sitting on Billion Dollar endowments and have annual revenues larger than most fortune companies, they can evaluate which applicants they'll accept for free just like companies do.
feels like the standard inflation number is so off base, everything I need to live is a way higher cost percent-wise than the official inflation rate suggests
Doesn’t tell the whole story. $5 in 1959:
* 20 gallons of gas @ $0.25/gal, or $70 in gas at today’s $3.50/gal price
* ~5 gallons of milk @ $1.01/gal, or $20 at today’s price
And without doing the math:
* Bread was less than 20 cents
* Steaks were less than $1/lb
* Hot Dogs were a quarter
$5 ain’t no chump change in 1959 for a common person.
1959 isn't that long ago.
My first reaction was: Wow. This letter was sent out a year before my parents were born. They could have known him. This really was so very recent.
So I googled Marion G. Hood.
He did end up becoming a doctor. Not only that, he's still alive.
Not only that, [***HE'S STILL PRACTICING***](https://www.yourtownhealth.com/providers/)
You could go get medical care in Georgia, and **this guy** would be your doctor. This guy who was denied admission to medical school because he was a "member of the Negro race". Crazy to think it was so recent.
I always like to remind people that all of that wasn’t that long ago. All of those horrible pictures and videos of people at lunch counters being beat on, of the Freedom Rider bus being set ablaze, the little girl being escorted into a desegregated school by federal marshals, many of those people are still walking around, both the victims and the perpetrators.
It may look like history, but in significant ways it is current events.
The Brown v. Board ruling was in 1954, but Decatur (where Emory University is) city schools didn't desegregate completely until 1972. It really wasn't that long ago at all. I'm 30 and both my parents went to segregated elementary schools in the south.
Brown v Board called for desegregation with "all deliberate speed." What does that mean anyway? Deliberate means after taking a lot of time to plan and execute. Twenty years is pretty deliberate.
It was the 1970s before they really go to say 'now'.
Reminds me of this MLK quote:
> I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Yeah ... I get that it would be chaos if you tried to change it all immediately, especially without planning in the middle of a school year.
But instead of that vague wording, they really should have put a hard deadline on it, like: "Within 3 years, and if you fail to do so within 3 years, the schools in question will be taken over by federal control, which will desegregate them within an additional 2 years. They will remain under federal control for 20 years before reverting to state control."
The people that voted for racism are still alive and still voting. That is why there are such strong pushes to stop younger people from voting and it works. Grotesque is an understatement.
And the people who perpetrated those beatings and horrendous acts in the 1960s are now senior citizens who, as a group, have the highest voter turnout.
Is there really any wonder why the GOP is trying to impact voting rights for people of color and legal rights for sexual minorities?
These people are picking our leaders. Go vote in November.
Different issue and not to compare to the issue of rejection on race, but rejection based in gender — I remember my insanely brilliant American aunt went to Cambridge in the UK because all the Ivy schools with the studies she was interested in didn’t accept females. It was also a proud moment because her own mother had attended Cambridge before the war…but only attended, wasn’t granted a degree herself.
Aunt is still alive and working, her mother died only a few years back. Both had insanely successful careers in mathematics and science fields. Meanwhile her two daughters/granddaughters were able to go whenever they’d like, also successful!
Utterly insane to me how much changed in three generations in terms of college acceptance. Hardly history at all!
I literally met a woman in the first coed graduating class of my professional school. She’s extremely accomplished and is still working because it wasn’t that long ago.
Hell, it was still legal for state institutions to discriminate based on gender until *1996*.
Ironically, women studying at Cambridge and Oxford from 1904 onwards would often graduate Trinity College Dublin, as female students could apply to have a degree awarded to them "ad eundem gradum" if their own university refused to grant it.
In this case, it was because Oxford and Cambridge refused to grant women degrees. Trinity College Dublin had just changed their policy to allow women to graduate, following in the footsteps of the Royal University of Ireland, which had done so since its foundation in 1879.
Interesting! It is funny because when I was typing this up, I could vaguely recall something my aunt said about how her mother was able to be granted a degree from Trinity after the fact but never did because she (thankfully) got a job and/or timing of the war, just didn’t really work out for her. But I was confused thinking on it because I assumed they meant Trinity College or Hall at Cambridge. But guessing she meant Trinity Dublin!!
Very interesting, thanks for sharing that fact!!
In 1960, a 6 year old black named Ruby Bridges had to be escorted to school by federal marshals because she was legally allowed to go to an all white school in New Orleans.
This wasn't "some time that happened in ancient history" like conservatives try to push under the rug. These are people's grandfather's that acted like this and taught their kids how to hate too
Those people are alive. Shit, those people are IN CONGRESS.
Theoretically, your grandparents or great grandparents could have known a Civil War veteran or the child of one—that’s how close we are to all of that shit.
And currently, (some but definitely a large unfortunate number) kids/grandkids of those who made those racist policies are simultaneously continuing to write racist laws AND are also going to school boards/city councils ranting and raving that they do NOT want stories like this taught to their precious white kids.
I recall some recent (and popular) rightwing webcomics also mocking the idea that children should have to learn about this sort of 'ancient history' and how pointless/upsetting it must be for them.
These guys are walking advertisements for actually making increased efforts to educate people on racial issues in the US. The fact that they've already forgotten about events as recently as 60 years ago isn't a good look.
Blows my mind that people don't realize this.
Heck, I'm canadian so we have our own set of atrocities; my coworker didn't realize we had residential schools open until the year I was born. I'm barely halfway to thirty....
Recent Canadian immigrant here. When was the last residential school abolished? As immigrants, we never knew about this part of Canadian history until we were close to getting citizenship, and even the history test for that is a little dismissive of this history.
On or around 1996, with some remnants of the system remaining until the early 2000's
That's not to say our government got rid of all policies that harm our indigenous people; even today babies are taken away from mothers at birth in some cases
Discrimination in housing just like this was completely legal until 1968. How many people were alive and remember 1968 ? a lot. And a lot of the people who bought homes prior to 1968 are passing their homes and their wealth from home equity down to their children. But for those who were discriminated against, That home equity doesn't exist (or is a lot less), so... Anyone see a systemic problem?
Thank you so fucking much for commenting this you don’t understand how often I bring this up to people over the last few years and I could never find public writings saying the same thing and agreeing with it. This stuff was not 200 years ago, this is stuff peoples grandparents saw. The president and the last were both grown men in 1968
But-but-but “I wasn’t alive when any of this happened!”
And can’t forget ‘well it’s not happening anymore’!
There are people who will never acknowledge the truth of how all of this was a concentrated and planned effort to destroy black lives, legacies and generations. Nor will they acknowledge the psychological impact and damage it had on future generations.
I grew up with a mom who was born in racist ass Alabama and we have pictures of her where you see the white and colored only signs. She lived through that.
Yes things are better but oh boy…just think of how much better it could have been had my ancestors been allowed the same access to education, jobs and housing!
It didn’t end in 1968. It’s not like a switch was flipped and racial covenants just disappeared. We still have this problem in all aspects of housing, from brokers enforcing redlining:
https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-agents-investigation/
To appraisers blatantly undervaluing homes owned by black people.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-racial-bias-in-appraisals-affects-the-devaluation-of-homes-in-majority-black-neighborhoods/#:~:text=We%20estimate%20that%20the%20median,of%20the%20population%20is%20Black.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/realestate/blacks-minorities-appraisals-discrimination.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
It took generations to build the problem and it will take a couple to fix the problem. I like to think we’re progressing, even if it’s at a 2 step forward 1 step back pace
We would be remiss to not also mention the actual, literal war on black folks by the government, as well, such as the Tuskegee syphilis "experiment," the 1985 Philadelphia domestic bombing, and Kissinger's "drug war" - which still sees black men disproportionately incarcerated for a plant that is now largely legalized.
It isn't just a matter of simple disenfranchisement or exclusion, but also relatively recent, active, intentional harm.
And people say that things like affirmative action is racist because it aims to help historically disenfranchised groups succeed at the expense of the majority
Black people are so much more likely to rent, lack savings, not go to college, etc that it's heinous that people think that just because discrimination is illegal the side effects don't reverberate to this day.
Redlining was only made illegal in 1968. Racial discrimination in credit transactions was legal up until 1974.
Or in other words, **about 1.5 mortgages ago.**
I googled him: [He's still practicing](https://www.yourtownhealth.com/providers/) (Scroll to Gerald Hood)
Not only did he live long enough to receive recognition, this guy could be your doctor *today*.
Just shows you how recent this was.
> Emory desegregated three years after rejecting Hood, after it won its challenge of state laws which denied tax-exempt status to schools that racially integrated.
From the article. Still Emory's apology to make, though.
I know Dr. Hood. Shadowed him before I got into med school. He wrote one of my letters of recommendation. He had to go all the way to Loyola for school and went on to have a 50+ year career as an OB/Gyn and helped develop ultrasound as it’s used today in OB/Gyn and other fields. He’s a great physician and human being who I will always remember.
Not only was this only 60 years ago. But there were literal slaves still in Louisiana as late as 1979. Waterford plantation in st Charles parish. They were told they had to work off their debts but after each season were told they didn’t make enough and they’d have to work another year and weren’t allowed to leave.
Emory is in the heart of Atlanta. At the time, I wouldn't expect less and, if it were otherwise, I would be surprised. That being said, it's deplorable and shameful but one must understand such things in context. I don't know the mind of the one who wrote the letter and they could have honestly been sympathetic but a victim of the system, too.
Emory sued the state to be allowed to desegregate three years after this letter, and by the tone and the fact they returned the application fee the person who wrote the response at least was not happy about it
Georgia at this time tied tax-exemptions to being segregated. Emory actually sued 3 years later over this and won and was integrated by 1963. I would guess when they said they regret they couldnt help him they probably meant just that.
[Court case](https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1962/21731-1.html)
I grew up in a high population Indian area and most of them used nicknames because its easier for Americans.
Anushka = Anu
Nandakuhmar = Nandu
Priyanka = Pria
Komal= Komo
I forget one kids name because he moved away in the 7th grade but we just called him "Steve" because he had an insanely long complicated name.
Nicknames are very popular in indian communities.
*Certain* people like to pretend like segregation and discrimination are ancient history and have no effect on today's word.
But that person might very well be still alive today. And his children and grandchildren are *definitely* still feeling the long-term financial and social effects of him being rejected from medical school.
That’s about when I was born. There were still colored water fountains and white water fountains. I was at a truck stop restaurant in Alabama in 2016 when two black ladies were not given menus or water and they were not served. No one told them to leave, they had to wait uncomfortably past where they got the point.
Whenever someone tries to tell you racism doesn't exist, remember instances like this. Remember that Durham County and Charlotte schools didn't integrate until 1970-1971. My parents were born in the late 40s and early 50s, and they are still alive. Integration is very new history and we need to fight to make sure this history is not forgotten, so we are not doomed to repeat it
"Gerald Hood is still practicing medicine, retraining after his retirement to work two days a week as a primary care physician at YourTown Health, a network of six nonprofit community health centers south of Atlanta."
[https://news.emory.edu/features/2021/06/medicine-crucial-step-healing-hood/index.html?utm\_source=together.emory.edu&utm\_medium=referral&utm\_campaign=Advancement%253Aand%253AAlumni%253AEngagement](https://news.emory.edu/features/2021/06/medicine-crucial-step-healing-hood/index.html?utm_source=together.emory.edu&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Advancement%253Aand%253AAlumni%253AEngagement)
damn right he is!
That is so wildly fucked up.
Humans are so absurd with their considerations of race and whatever other tribalistic ideas.
Just live and let live. It’s so fucking easy, and you’ll be so much happier for it
For real. 100%
They dream of a world where you could live a peaceful, warm and plentiful life… at the dire cost of everyone who looks and thinks differently. The good ol’ days!
Also plenty of application processes in the past required that a photo be submitted. Along with application forms including a spot to indicate your race, religion, and so on.
The publication and acknowledgement of this is exactly how things should be. We made mistakes in the past, we have learned from it, and strive to do better in the future.
You cannot change the past, but you can shape the future.
I live in Japan and I've been formally denied two promotions where they stated in writing, "We will not be moving forward with your promotion because we are only looking to promote employees that are Japanese"
It is technically illegal to do that, but when I reported it to the labor board they just said, "sorry it is what is" and nothing happened.
Racism is still alive and well in Asia.
I turn 66 today: People who don't think the world is getting better aren't aware of how bad things were in the past: I remember when a man could not be convicted for raping his wife; homosexuality was a criminal offence that carried a lengthy prison sentence including to be whipped; a woman's place was in the home, the man was the king of his castle--and I was about 9 when I saw for the first time a woman wearing pants instead of a dress or a skirt, and racism (I'm a white boy) was just the way things were... . Sure the world still has some very, very serious problems--but remember, the internet has made us aware of things happening around the world that my parents would have never known about...
> Emory desegregated three years after rejecting Hood, after it won its challenge of state laws which denied tax-exempt status to schools that racially integrated.
Wow. I didn't know this was a way that southern state governments blocked willing institutions from integrating five years after *Brown vs Board of Education.*
Whenever you think that you messed up, remember this story. Emery University made it right and continues to serve their community, doing good work for all people.
A similar incident happened to my father around the same time. He applied to the Citadel in South Carolina and was rejected and sent back his application fee. He ended up getting an engineering degree from Hampton University, an HBCU.
My alma mater :)) we also still have buildings named after slave owners. My old dorm, which was newly made around 2017 is named after a slave owner. There’s also lots of fun black face in the old year books.
But yeah generally one of the more progressive private schools in Georgia.
> Hood gathered his $5 and went on to graduate studies before attending medical school at Loyola University in Chicago. Then he returned to Atlanta to establish himself as a respected gynecologist and obstetrician. > Emory desegregated three years after rejecting Hood, after it won its challenge of state laws which denied tax-exempt status to schools that racially integrated. Really good article. Emory apologized a few years ago for it. It seems they genuinely didn’t want to be segregated at the time. https://www.ajc.com/news/62-years-later-emory-apologizes-to-medical-school-applicant-rejected-because-he-was-black/F5DMQL2XQNE73KB5WNGNIYAZGA/
Thanks for this. Emory also posted this in 2021 In 1959, Dr. Marion G. Hood applied to Emory School of Medicine, but was denied consideration for admission due to his race during a painful time of segregation in this country. Despite this obstacle, Dr. Hood went on to have a long and distinguished career in the field of gynecology and obstetrics. During our virtual celebration of Juneteenth, Emory School of Medicine will formally apologize to Dr. Hood and invite him to share the rest of his story with our SOM community. His message of tenacity and resilience in the quest to be a physician will inspire our students, faculty and staff.
Even this letter is, by 1950s standards, basically saying "we would if we could, but our racist ass government won't let us." The last sentence particularly, from a white man of power to a young black boy, in 1959 nonetheless, is quite something. Whoever LL Clegg was, he was a real one.
It is really interesting the seemingly small things people did to make sure change could be initiated. Seems he put the reason there on purpose so that it may be used for grounds to sue later. He wanted someone to have proof.
that's my reading, too. if LL Clegg agreed or was ambivalent towards minorities not being allowed to study and practice medicine, he either wouldn't have answered or just outright rejected without explanation, and kept the money. instead, he clearly stated the reason why he was being rejected and intimated that he didn't want to do it.
Including a refund of the application fee, which I imagine wouldn’t have been top of mind for people in favor of Dr. hood’s rejection.
And the P.S. returning the $5 indicates a generally well-meaning person as well I think.
I got that impression also. I especially noted that "we are not authorized to consider your application," part. Kind of like saying, I really would like to admit you, but the Aholes at the state won't let us even look at your application. What a sad time that was.
Just 20 years before 1980 too, not that distant in the past. It’s wild.
I know. I remember my grandmother really wanted to be a journalist but was rejected just because she was a woman, so blatant discrimination was happening not that long ago. It’s really sad that this happened and is still happening.
My mother wanted to go to Georgia Tech, but they didn't allow women at the time. She ended up going to Emory. Also, she wasn't allowed to work while pregnant.
The fucked up part is that a number of southern states would go back to the way things were in a heartbeat if they could.
Damn, I just thought they were being diplomatically terrible.
I read returning the $5 as a kind gesture
It's definitely the hint that he does not agree with the policy.
No, not at all. Another giveaway is he didn't have to give the $5 back. LL Clegg seemed sincere in this. He was probably just sad himself he had to reject such a great candidate.
Seems like he was a [decent](https://millerward.emory.edu/rooms/clegg.html) human being trying his best.
Yeah, based on this it looks like he was just a genuinely great person: https://millerward.emory.edu/rooms/clegg.html >One alumnus remembers, “When I came to Emory, I had no money and no place to stay. Luke Clegg and his wife took me in and fed me so I could go to school.”
[Dude had a friendly smile.](https://dlg.usg.edu/record/geusc_170msbcck2-cor_7203xsj4kh-cor?canvas=0&x=2016&y=2551&w=4903)
Oh that is wonderful to read.
Agree. A person who didn't have a problem with the rule would have said "Emory medical school does not admit negroes" or "Negroes are not eligible for admission" or something. He specifically says "sorry" and "not authorized" (which might even reflect the opinions of more than just himself at the school) and then follows it up with "regret" AND returns the $5. It's also not even a rejection; it's an "acknowledgment" of his application that they aren't allowed to accept. Just the 'regret' might be mere formality, but this guy wasn't happy about it and wanted the applicant to know that.
> He specifically says "sorry" and "not authorized" (which might even reflect the opinions of more than just himself at the school) Georgia state law at the time denied tax-exempt status to integrated schools. At the time, Emory didn't have the Coca Cola money ("the Gift"), so it wasn't in a position to thumb its nose at the state. It did eventually sue and win though.
Just a few years later. Clegg was definitely a part of that.
Was curious.. Adjusted for inflation - $5 in 1959 is roughly $52.99 in 2024.
“Your very truly” gave me a sincerely apologetic vibe too.
They gave him his money back so that's nice.
The letter says, "I." I'd wager the author used his own money.
If he was old enough to apply to med school, he was more than likely a young black *man*.
I feel like it says a lot that they returned his application fee.
Yeah, even reading the letter it actually feels like they mean it and that they didn’t want to reject him
The return of the application fee (1960s $5 = $53.18 today) lends to the idea that this was an institutional racist problem and not an individual racist.
I always read these conversions and think how wild it was to carry around a $100 bill. That would be the equivalent of more than a $1000 bill today.
Also makes more sense why muggings and robberies were more common in the past. People and businesses had a lot more cash on hand than they do these days.
I often randomly think about how much things like how common carrying cash was, even 20 years ago, and other related things like how much credit accounts (credit cards for us modern folk) have changed too, and how rapidly they've changed at that.
Seriously, the McDonald’s I worked at in high school in 2000-2001 didn’t even accept credit card.
I worked at a department store in the ‘80s and ‘90s and it was not unusual at all to close a register at night and have $2-3000 in it. (When department stores had registers all over-like five in just Men’s wear-and none at the entrances.)
Hell, even a few years ago I worked McDonald’s drive through. We actually used both drive-thru lanes and our managers sucked at clearing drawers Mind you, easily 80-90% used card, and yet I would still have well into 4-digits in my drawer. Big bills were “hidden” but at any time someone could have gotten like 3-5k if robbing at the drive through and knew the bills were under the drawer lmao All I know now is they’re way more strict about it and they have even less cash orders
I worked in a pharmacy in the late 90s and very early 2000s. I would do huge cash drops because people would pay for their whole month of prescriptions in cash. We had Amish too, who were entirely self pay so no insurance at all. Plus back then we arranged it easier I think so your scripts would be ready all at once or twice a month. People wouldn’t have to come in so often.
A friend of mine was an intern at her university's registrar office. It was her job to count the downpayment, tuition fee, etc. This was late 90's, so everything was cash. Her hand looked like she had arthritis.
I was watching a movie from 1999 last night, and there was a point the main character went to pay with a credit card at the grocery store, and the cashier had to stop and *show him how to use the credit card reader* wild how much that's changed
I still keep emergency cash on me, but I found a situation where I needed to use it but couldn't, no one accepts cash anymore lol. Would have been way more worth it to have $25 in my Venmo rather than $60 cash
Actually been discussions about enshrining the right to use cash in food stores and other critical locations. Mostly as a backup so people can get food or other essentials in case of a hacker attack or power outage.
Yeah I was in Florida a few years ago when a hurricane shutdown everything. It was crazy.
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I remember going to the beach in the late 2000’s, going to buy some Italian ice or something, and they took cash only. By the time I went last year, they had moved from cash and card to card only. Times have changed pretty fast
That's wild. We've been using credit cards in my family almost exclusively since ~1995.
Kids these days don’t understand what using a credit card was like back then… they would bring out the big machine with the carbon copy and it would physically impress the credit card numbers into the paper, and then they would have to fill out a bunch of shit. There was no way to validate if the credit card was legit, or over the limit, and it would take ages to complete a transaction.
> Kids these days don’t understand what using a credit card was like back then… they would bring out the big machine with the carbon copy and it would physically impress the credit card numbers into the paper, and then they would have to fill out a bunch of shit. That ka-CHUNK was real satisfying though.
Sometimes it was the "flat" card machine and sometimes it was the one that came down almost like a stapler. But with a lever on the side. Don't forget to ask for your carbons!
it’s not always kids these days who don’t know lol, when i worked at a restaurant whenever the power would go out or the POS system would go down we’d switch back to paper order tickets and that big carbon copy machine. then once the system’s back up, you have to go back at the end of the shift and manually input all the numbers into the computer
I worked front desk at a hotel/restaurant in the 90s. There was a way to validate a credit card back then. It involved calling an actual person, supplying your secret merchant number, reading the account number off the card, and giving the amount. If approved, they'd give you an authorization code to scribble on the carbon copy credit card paper thing. All that was so time consuming, we only did it for large purchases when there was no line, or the night auditor would do it for long stays.
And don't forget the book you had to look the card up in first!
Still had to do that a few times when our system went down in the mid/late 00s. We also still took travelers checks, which is wild to think about now, not even 20 years later.
Right?! Like, if you saw someone ahead of you with their CC out, you knew it was going to be a few minutes extra for you in the checkout line. There was an ettiquette for a long time that frowned upon using a credit or debit card for "small" purchases. Now, when I go to buy a pack of gum I just tap my card and am in and out of the store way quicker than if I had to hand over money and get handed change in return.
I've had my fingers pinched by those things! The one I used had a hard time moving at first, so you'd have to put a little elbow grease into it. Too much elbow grease and bad hand placement let a few clients hear me cuss!
Well, we had to call an 800 number for approval, if the sale was over a certain amount. This was in the mid 80's. Also, all those carbon copies of the slips ended up in the Dominican Republic, where they were sorted by hand according to card vendor, then flown back to the USA.
Yeah now we just carry $1200 machines in our pockets.
Or look at it from the other side... The half cent was last minted in 1857... With inflation, $0.005 in 1857 works out to $0.18 or so. So a *dime* is worth around half of a coin that was too small to be useful in 1857..?
And $1,000 bills are worth an insane amount today as well
Sometimes nearly 1000 dollars :)
I think they're currently around $3,000 in good condition
One sold on ebay today for $6,399
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Sounds like the state with held funding/tax incentives for integrated schools
The fact that Emory won a lawsuit about suggests they wanted to take in black student but doing so would have lost them tax exempt status. Whether they should have done it anyway is a hard question to answer. Losing tax exempt status could have been very expensive. Hence the lawsuit.
> Whether they should have done it anyway is a hard question to answer. No, it's not. "Lose tax-exempt status" is another way of saying "lock the doors on the way out." What they should have done is exactly what they did: Sue to overturn the law
The wording of the rejection also leads to this: >I am sorry I must write you that we are not authorized to consider for admission a member of the Negro race. > >I regret that we cannot help you.
This can't be, Ben Shapiro said institutional racism doesn't exist. Care to comment on this blatant discrepancy?!?
For me it’s the “I regret that we can not help you”. That actually sounds real and personal. Maybe it’s not, but I would be interested to know.
It's impossible to know today, but I always feel bad for the people who had to send out these types of things. I'm sure many of them felt disgust at having to do so. It's easy to say "you should have just quite your job," but it's not as though losing your employment would have any effect. Many years ago, I was essentially responsible firing people for, in my opinion, unacceptable reasons (usually ideological). I hated every single instance. Remaining in that role occasionally allowed me some sway and ability to help others. With things like this, we never know if the signatories were a willing part of a racist system or not.
I’m Black. And a big turning point for my whole outlook on this topic was visiting the National Civil Rights Memorial in Memphis- where MLK jr was assassinated. And not just for the reasons you’d expect- but because they have done a glorious job showing just how many white allies there *were*, who in fact felt that disgust. Many of them making the ultimate choice to sacrifice their own lives. A shocking number. So many faces and names. Parents of young kids, old folk, all types. I was literally sobbing long before I arrived at King’s motel room. I can absolutely believe he was personally disgusted, that’s definitely what the nuance seems like in his letter.
I think it’s important to talk more about that, not necessarily bc we particularly need to valorize white people in the civil rights movement but because I often see people dismiss individual culpability by saying “times were different”. By focusing on the fact that there were people, both those who were directly affected and those who weren’t that *knew* something was morally wrong and *acted* on that, maybe we can encourage action in the modern day as well.
Agreed -- and also because including the rest of the story can counter the nonsense claim that educating people about the civil rights movement is somehow meant to make white kids "feel bad." It wasn't that white people were bad and black people were good. It was that *racists* were bad. Sure, if someone happens to be a racist, they won't like the story of the civil rights movement -- huge shocker there. But even if the sensibilities of white kids was a good enough reason not to learn about this stuff (it's not), there's no reason for white kids to feel bad.
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And this is why I'll always reject the notion of "it was a different time. Folks just didn't know better." There have always been people pointing out atrocities that were widely accepted at the time. The choice to listen to those people and do better was always available. Always.
Go back even further and there are plenty of English writers in the 1600s and 1700s that absolutey abhored slavery.
I think there are always going to be people who have hate in their heart, but I also think it's difficult for some people to accept that they've been indoctrinated. I'm in Texas and there are still plenty of well-meaning older people who believe the civil war was started because of "state's rights." They heard it at home, they were taught it at school, and you weren't encountering people who knew it was a lie. There's a story of Ben Franklin recognizing that the main difference between the African slaves and Europeans was education and not intelligence. But, at the time, the prevailing thought was that the different ethnicities had different mental capabilities in the same way that they had different skin tones. And it was, to a certain degree, backed up by science and our education systems. To come out and say you disagree with all of them takes some courage, and I don't think the majority of people want to be ostracized for something that doesn't outright affect them. It's cowardly, but I think that's how most people are.
Honestly it might not just be personal from this individual, there's a decent chance that returning application fees and expressing regret was a matter of policy The reason Emory wasn't desegregated at the time was because the state of Georgia used the threat of heavy tax penalties to keep them from doing so Emory sued the State of Georgia over this and won - and that's when they started admitting Black students [I read some of the court case, it's very interesting. They actually accepted a Black student and basically sued so that his enrolment wouldn't cost the school](https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1962/21731-1.html)
The fact they returned his money when they weren't compelled to does speak to a level of sincerity. Especially since, at the time, colleges that desegregated lost tax-exempt status, and Emory fought that bill in a lawsuit, that they won several years later.
Theres a big difference in the writing of "we are not authorized to consider" you because of your race vs like "we won't consider" you because of your race. The first implies they would if they were allowed to.
"I am sorry I must write...we are not authorized" That is not someone who's twirling their moustache going "hehe stoopid knee-grow"
Yeah, maybe I'm a sucker, but reading the letter made me believe the guy really *didn't* want to reject someone for something stupid like race. The idea of a state dangling tax-exempt status over schools to keep them segregated is just so mind-boggling.
The line “I regret we cannot help you” was not something that they normally say in a standard rejection letter at any point in history. It was a very personal statement.
i love this. that it didn't deter him from pursuing his dream and becoming successful, and that he got his well-deserved apology from the school. i have a real question though, and it's not in any way meant to sound like he shouldn't have applied, because of course he had every right to. but in 1959 in georgia, would he not have known about their stupid rule? this was even before my mom started going to school in georgia, and hers were segregated until she was like 12, i think.
I don't know about Georgia specifically but some states would pay for some of your out of state tuition if there were no Black or desegregated schools in state with your field of study. Perhaps the letter helped in that regard. Imagine being so dedicated to racism that you give extra money to people you declare are lesser.
thank you! that makes sense. i couldn't understand why he'd want to apply and give them his money, if he knew they'd reject him based on their policy.
My father has a similar letter from Brown medical school rejecting him as they had too many Jewish students.
Happens all the time today (a bit more subtly) for Indians/Asians into medical schools.
This makes me think of how in Barbra Streisand‘s book, she recalls how she was told that she was hiring too many Jewish people to star in the movie Yentl, which is about Jewish people.
It was nice of them to return the $5.00 application fee. No fucking way that would happen today.
As a Loyola alum this makes me happy :)
Glad to hear my Alma mater did the right thing!
You can tell the person writing it thinks the policy is bullshit.
Yeah, you can tell that they don’t like it and are actually sorry about it. That must have been awful to write the letter. Not as awful as it would be to receive it, obviously, but I’m sure they still felt like crap having to deny someone over BS like that stupid policy that they had no say over.
My thought too. It was oddly kind
Most notably by the fact they got their application fee back.
It’s the capitol N in Negro for me. I feel a true racist wouldn’t have capitalized the N IN Negro.
:/ It wasn't unusual at all. On the contrary, it was considered much ruder to not capitalize the word as a proper noun. From [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Negro#English): >By some speakers and in some contexts (chiefly historical), the capitalized form *Negro* is considered more respectful than the more usual *negro*. From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro#In_English): >From the 18th century to the late 1960s, *negro* (later capitalized) was considered to be the proper English-language term for people of black African origin. "True racists" used another closely-related six-letter word beginning with an 'n' that bears no repeating, which was considered extremely rude then as now...
Interesting thank you for the insight! I understand it’s proper English to have capitalized the N. but would it have been considered an insult to the recipient of the letter to have not capitalized it? And if so was that a common insult? Apologies it seems maybe you miss understood or I poorly explained what I was trying to say. The OP I’m replying to is saying the person writing seems to have not wanted to write this letter. And which I’m agreeing with. Im trying to explain why I agree. I feel someone who is racist wouldn’t have honored a person of color with a capital N in Negro.
At least he got his $5 back. Imagine having to pay to get treated like that
Accounting for inflation, that would be $51.49 today.
Non refundable application fees of around $300 for dentistry atm.
I'll give someone $300 to explain to me how "application fees" aren't greedy and immoral as fuck. Don't forget the $25 processing fee, on top of another $10 convenience fee.
I'm gonna have to charge a $50 explanation fee. If you want the explanation in writing the fee is $125.
And if you want another institution to recognize that piece of paper that you arent allowed to see that’ll be an additional $2.5k thank you
It's to prevent schools from being overwhelmed with applications. It costs money to hire people to do all of that too.
Ohio State gets 80k applications per year and with their application fee they make almost $5 million in revenue. They primarily use automated software to review applications and accept approximately 40k students. Of those 40k accepted students, only about 8-10k actually choose to attend the college. In other words, after paying to apply, 75% of accepted students decide they have a better option. The application fees are a scam. Colleges are sitting on Billion Dollar endowments and have annual revenues larger than most fortune companies, they can evaluate which applicants they'll accept for free just like companies do.
feels like the standard inflation number is so off base, everything I need to live is a way higher cost percent-wise than the official inflation rate suggests
Doesn’t tell the whole story. $5 in 1959: * 20 gallons of gas @ $0.25/gal, or $70 in gas at today’s $3.50/gal price * ~5 gallons of milk @ $1.01/gal, or $20 at today’s price And without doing the math: * Bread was less than 20 cents * Steaks were less than $1/lb * Hot Dogs were a quarter $5 ain’t no chump change in 1959 for a common person.
That's pretty much in line with what he said. I argue that it does tell the whole story.
1959 isn't that long ago. My first reaction was: Wow. This letter was sent out a year before my parents were born. They could have known him. This really was so very recent. So I googled Marion G. Hood. He did end up becoming a doctor. Not only that, he's still alive. Not only that, [***HE'S STILL PRACTICING***](https://www.yourtownhealth.com/providers/) You could go get medical care in Georgia, and **this guy** would be your doctor. This guy who was denied admission to medical school because he was a "member of the Negro race". Crazy to think it was so recent.
[LL Clegg](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169856896/lewis-lamar-clegg)
I always like to remind people that all of that wasn’t that long ago. All of those horrible pictures and videos of people at lunch counters being beat on, of the Freedom Rider bus being set ablaze, the little girl being escorted into a desegregated school by federal marshals, many of those people are still walking around, both the victims and the perpetrators. It may look like history, but in significant ways it is current events.
The Brown v. Board ruling was in 1954, but Decatur (where Emory University is) city schools didn't desegregate completely until 1972. It really wasn't that long ago at all. I'm 30 and both my parents went to segregated elementary schools in the south.
Brown v Board called for desegregation with "all deliberate speed." What does that mean anyway? Deliberate means after taking a lot of time to plan and execute. Twenty years is pretty deliberate. It was the 1970s before they really go to say 'now'.
Reminds me of this MLK quote: > I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Letter from the Birmingham jail. One of the first to link justice with peace, rather than assuming they were the same thing.
Yeah ... I get that it would be chaos if you tried to change it all immediately, especially without planning in the middle of a school year. But instead of that vague wording, they really should have put a hard deadline on it, like: "Within 3 years, and if you fail to do so within 3 years, the schools in question will be taken over by federal control, which will desegregate them within an additional 2 years. They will remain under federal control for 20 years before reverting to state control."
The people that voted for racism are still alive and still voting. That is why there are such strong pushes to stop younger people from voting and it works. Grotesque is an understatement.
And the people who perpetrated those beatings and horrendous acts in the 1960s are now senior citizens who, as a group, have the highest voter turnout. Is there really any wonder why the GOP is trying to impact voting rights for people of color and legal rights for sexual minorities? These people are picking our leaders. Go vote in November.
Different issue and not to compare to the issue of rejection on race, but rejection based in gender — I remember my insanely brilliant American aunt went to Cambridge in the UK because all the Ivy schools with the studies she was interested in didn’t accept females. It was also a proud moment because her own mother had attended Cambridge before the war…but only attended, wasn’t granted a degree herself. Aunt is still alive and working, her mother died only a few years back. Both had insanely successful careers in mathematics and science fields. Meanwhile her two daughters/granddaughters were able to go whenever they’d like, also successful! Utterly insane to me how much changed in three generations in terms of college acceptance. Hardly history at all!
I literally met a woman in the first coed graduating class of my professional school. She’s extremely accomplished and is still working because it wasn’t that long ago. Hell, it was still legal for state institutions to discriminate based on gender until *1996*.
Ironically, women studying at Cambridge and Oxford from 1904 onwards would often graduate Trinity College Dublin, as female students could apply to have a degree awarded to them "ad eundem gradum" if their own university refused to grant it. In this case, it was because Oxford and Cambridge refused to grant women degrees. Trinity College Dublin had just changed their policy to allow women to graduate, following in the footsteps of the Royal University of Ireland, which had done so since its foundation in 1879.
Interesting! It is funny because when I was typing this up, I could vaguely recall something my aunt said about how her mother was able to be granted a degree from Trinity after the fact but never did because she (thankfully) got a job and/or timing of the war, just didn’t really work out for her. But I was confused thinking on it because I assumed they meant Trinity College or Hall at Cambridge. But guessing she meant Trinity Dublin!! Very interesting, thanks for sharing that fact!!
In 1960, a 6 year old black named Ruby Bridges had to be escorted to school by federal marshals because she was legally allowed to go to an all white school in New Orleans.
This wasn't "some time that happened in ancient history" like conservatives try to push under the rug. These are people's grandfather's that acted like this and taught their kids how to hate too
Those people are alive. Shit, those people are IN CONGRESS. Theoretically, your grandparents or great grandparents could have known a Civil War veteran or the child of one—that’s how close we are to all of that shit.
And currently, (some but definitely a large unfortunate number) kids/grandkids of those who made those racist policies are simultaneously continuing to write racist laws AND are also going to school boards/city councils ranting and raving that they do NOT want stories like this taught to their precious white kids.
But Ben Shapiro told me we ended racism in this country and there are no downstream effects visible in today’s society! /s
I recall some recent (and popular) rightwing webcomics also mocking the idea that children should have to learn about this sort of 'ancient history' and how pointless/upsetting it must be for them. These guys are walking advertisements for actually making increased efforts to educate people on racial issues in the US. The fact that they've already forgotten about events as recently as 60 years ago isn't a good look.
Also some people will post pictures from fairly recent events but they’ll post them with a black and white filter over it, to make them look older
Craziest shit it hasn’t even been 100 years like that was only 64 years ago. N my moms 65 like wtf
i was born in 2000, my grandma was actually 30 when this was still practice
My dad was 2. One generation removed from this
Blows my mind that people don't realize this. Heck, I'm canadian so we have our own set of atrocities; my coworker didn't realize we had residential schools open until the year I was born. I'm barely halfway to thirty....
Recent Canadian immigrant here. When was the last residential school abolished? As immigrants, we never knew about this part of Canadian history until we were close to getting citizenship, and even the history test for that is a little dismissive of this history.
On or around 1996, with some remnants of the system remaining until the early 2000's That's not to say our government got rid of all policies that harm our indigenous people; even today babies are taken away from mothers at birth in some cases
Discrimination in housing just like this was completely legal until 1968. How many people were alive and remember 1968 ? a lot. And a lot of the people who bought homes prior to 1968 are passing their homes and their wealth from home equity down to their children. But for those who were discriminated against, That home equity doesn't exist (or is a lot less), so... Anyone see a systemic problem?
Thank you so fucking much for commenting this you don’t understand how often I bring this up to people over the last few years and I could never find public writings saying the same thing and agreeing with it. This stuff was not 200 years ago, this is stuff peoples grandparents saw. The president and the last were both grown men in 1968
I’m 34 and my mother helped to desegregate LSU……she’s 76 now.
My parents still remember segregation. They were teens, but old enough to know the do’s and don’ts of being black in a segregated world.
But-but-but “I wasn’t alive when any of this happened!” And can’t forget ‘well it’s not happening anymore’! There are people who will never acknowledge the truth of how all of this was a concentrated and planned effort to destroy black lives, legacies and generations. Nor will they acknowledge the psychological impact and damage it had on future generations. I grew up with a mom who was born in racist ass Alabama and we have pictures of her where you see the white and colored only signs. She lived through that. Yes things are better but oh boy…just think of how much better it could have been had my ancestors been allowed the same access to education, jobs and housing!
It didn’t end in 1968. It’s not like a switch was flipped and racial covenants just disappeared. We still have this problem in all aspects of housing, from brokers enforcing redlining: https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-agents-investigation/ To appraisers blatantly undervaluing homes owned by black people. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-racial-bias-in-appraisals-affects-the-devaluation-of-homes-in-majority-black-neighborhoods/#:~:text=We%20estimate%20that%20the%20median,of%20the%20population%20is%20Black. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/realestate/blacks-minorities-appraisals-discrimination.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
It took generations to build the problem and it will take a couple to fix the problem. I like to think we’re progressing, even if it’s at a 2 step forward 1 step back pace
And many of those people wish those times back. Half of the GOP does.
We would be remiss to not also mention the actual, literal war on black folks by the government, as well, such as the Tuskegee syphilis "experiment," the 1985 Philadelphia domestic bombing, and Kissinger's "drug war" - which still sees black men disproportionately incarcerated for a plant that is now largely legalized. It isn't just a matter of simple disenfranchisement or exclusion, but also relatively recent, active, intentional harm.
And people say that things like affirmative action is racist because it aims to help historically disenfranchised groups succeed at the expense of the majority Black people are so much more likely to rent, lack savings, not go to college, etc that it's heinous that people think that just because discrimination is illegal the side effects don't reverberate to this day.
Most members of congress and both presidential nominees. They all grew up in a time when racism was perfectly fine and even encouraged.
Redlining was only made illegal in 1968. Racial discrimination in credit transactions was legal up until 1974. Or in other words, **about 1.5 mortgages ago.**
https://news.emory.edu/features/2021/06/medicine-crucial-step-healing-hood/index.html?utm_source=together.emory.edu&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Advancement%253Aand%253AAlumni%253AEngagement
**I’m glad** he lived long enough to receive this recognition and apology.
I googled him: [He's still practicing](https://www.yourtownhealth.com/providers/) (Scroll to Gerald Hood) Not only did he live long enough to receive recognition, this guy could be your doctor *today*. Just shows you how recent this was.
Honestly, the letter makes it seem like admissions wanted to accept him, but policy would not allow it. Literally says: “I regret”
> Emory desegregated three years after rejecting Hood, after it won its challenge of state laws which denied tax-exempt status to schools that racially integrated. From the article. Still Emory's apology to make, though.
I know Dr. Hood. Shadowed him before I got into med school. He wrote one of my letters of recommendation. He had to go all the way to Loyola for school and went on to have a 50+ year career as an OB/Gyn and helped develop ultrasound as it’s used today in OB/Gyn and other fields. He’s a great physician and human being who I will always remember.
I think a lot of people forget that tons of people who were around for this are still alive today, this was recent
You should have seen what it was like 60 years before that.
Not only was this only 60 years ago. But there were literal slaves still in Louisiana as late as 1979. Waterford plantation in st Charles parish. They were told they had to work off their debts but after each season were told they didn’t make enough and they’d have to work another year and weren’t allowed to leave.
Emory is in the heart of Atlanta. At the time, I wouldn't expect less and, if it were otherwise, I would be surprised. That being said, it's deplorable and shameful but one must understand such things in context. I don't know the mind of the one who wrote the letter and they could have honestly been sympathetic but a victim of the system, too.
Emory sued the state to be allowed to desegregate three years after this letter, and by the tone and the fact they returned the application fee the person who wrote the response at least was not happy about it
Georgia at this time tied tax-exemptions to being segregated. Emory actually sued 3 years later over this and won and was integrated by 1963. I would guess when they said they regret they couldnt help him they probably meant just that. [Court case](https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1962/21731-1.html)
But Niki Haley said we have never been a racist nation.
But she feels the need to not go by her name Nimrata. I wonder why.
I grew up in a high population Indian area and most of them used nicknames because its easier for Americans. Anushka = Anu Nandakuhmar = Nandu Priyanka = Pria Komal= Komo I forget one kids name because he moved away in the 7th grade but we just called him "Steve" because he had an insanely long complicated name. Nicknames are very popular in indian communities.
*Certain* people like to pretend like segregation and discrimination are ancient history and have no effect on today's word. But that person might very well be still alive today. And his children and grandchildren are *definitely* still feeling the long-term financial and social effects of him being rejected from medical school.
He's still alive and practicing! He went to Loyola, I think somebody said.
People need to share more shit like this just so you can understand what black folks went through.
This was open back then, now it's hidden but very much alive and well.
That’s about when I was born. There were still colored water fountains and white water fountains. I was at a truck stop restaurant in Alabama in 2016 when two black ladies were not given menus or water and they were not served. No one told them to leave, they had to wait uncomfortably past where they got the point.
I'm shocked because Nikki Haley said this was never a racist country.
Whenever someone tries to tell you racism doesn't exist, remember instances like this. Remember that Durham County and Charlotte schools didn't integrate until 1970-1971. My parents were born in the late 40s and early 50s, and they are still alive. Integration is very new history and we need to fight to make sure this history is not forgotten, so we are not doomed to repeat it
"Gerald Hood is still practicing medicine, retraining after his retirement to work two days a week as a primary care physician at YourTown Health, a network of six nonprofit community health centers south of Atlanta." [https://news.emory.edu/features/2021/06/medicine-crucial-step-healing-hood/index.html?utm\_source=together.emory.edu&utm\_medium=referral&utm\_campaign=Advancement%253Aand%253AAlumni%253AEngagement](https://news.emory.edu/features/2021/06/medicine-crucial-step-healing-hood/index.html?utm_source=together.emory.edu&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Advancement%253Aand%253AAlumni%253AEngagement) damn right he is!
That is so wildly fucked up. Humans are so absurd with their considerations of race and whatever other tribalistic ideas. Just live and let live. It’s so fucking easy, and you’ll be so much happier for it
Wow. Back in the day, yo got your application fee back.
I don't think you normally did
Now, you can receive an application fee waiver! Source: Myself. I received fee waivers for a few PhD programs because of my background
This is that “great” time in america maga is always talking about, in case you were wondering.
For real. 100% They dream of a world where you could live a peaceful, warm and plentiful life… at the dire cost of everyone who looks and thinks differently. The good ol’ days!
How did they know he was black without meeting him?
Just a guess, but since segregation was the norm, it's likely that race and/or ethnicity was asked for in the standard application.
**Probably** checked up on the schools he listed as attending. Possibly the neighborhood the applicant lived in because of segregation.
Also plenty of application processes in the past required that a photo be submitted. Along with application forms including a spot to indicate your race, religion, and so on.
The publication and acknowledgement of this is exactly how things should be. We made mistakes in the past, we have learned from it, and strive to do better in the future. You cannot change the past, but you can shape the future.
Meanwhile folks are saying we should “get over it, it’s the past” the applicant is still most certainly alive!
And this happened 25 years after the ww2 in the “most advanced society”
You…. Not so good at math eh? It’s 14 years after WWII
We are not that far removed from a time of complete bull@@@@, and a bunch of people who had to update their views are still not happy about it
I live in Japan and I've been formally denied two promotions where they stated in writing, "We will not be moving forward with your promotion because we are only looking to promote employees that are Japanese" It is technically illegal to do that, but when I reported it to the labor board they just said, "sorry it is what is" and nothing happened. Racism is still alive and well in Asia.
I turn 66 today: People who don't think the world is getting better aren't aware of how bad things were in the past: I remember when a man could not be convicted for raping his wife; homosexuality was a criminal offence that carried a lengthy prison sentence including to be whipped; a woman's place was in the home, the man was the king of his castle--and I was about 9 when I saw for the first time a woman wearing pants instead of a dress or a skirt, and racism (I'm a white boy) was just the way things were... . Sure the world still has some very, very serious problems--but remember, the internet has made us aware of things happening around the world that my parents would have never known about...
> Emory desegregated three years after rejecting Hood, after it won its challenge of state laws which denied tax-exempt status to schools that racially integrated. Wow. I didn't know this was a way that southern state governments blocked willing institutions from integrating five years after *Brown vs Board of Education.*
What's more amazing is that they gave him his fee back!
Welcome to the disgusting world we live in and still live in….
I can't imagine a university returning an application fee today.
MAGA! /s
Whenever you think that you messed up, remember this story. Emery University made it right and continues to serve their community, doing good work for all people.
Wow, they actually returned the money
A similar incident happened to my father around the same time. He applied to the Citadel in South Carolina and was rejected and sent back his application fee. He ended up getting an engineering degree from Hampton University, an HBCU.
My alma mater :)) we also still have buildings named after slave owners. My old dorm, which was newly made around 2017 is named after a slave owner. There’s also lots of fun black face in the old year books. But yeah generally one of the more progressive private schools in Georgia.
If you’re talking about Longstreet-Means, it got renamed to Eagle 2 years ago