Lest We Forget: WSSU Black History Facts
As we honor Black History Month, we commemorate Winston-Salem State University’s long and distinguished list of firsts and its contributions to the transformative milestones of the collective African American journey.
In 1925, Slater Academy became Winston-Salem Teachers College, the first black institution in the nation authorized to offer a bachelor’s degree in education.
In 1957, 12 students made history, becoming the first to earn their Bachelor of Nursing from Winston-Salem Teachers College. Due to segregation in North Carolina, the students had to travel as far as New York for training.
On Feb. 23, 1960, 11 WSSU students, joined with 10 white students from Wake Forest, were arrested, jailed and found guilty of trespassing during a joint sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in downtown Winston-Salem. Three months later, an agreement was reached, and Winston-Salem’s lunch counters were integrated, marking the first sit-in victory in the state.
Other firsts
- 1951 – Winston-Salem Teachers College graduate Edward O. Diggs becomes the first Black student admitted to the UNC medical school.
- 1952 – Rachel Diggs Wilkerson becomes first WSSU alumni to earn a Ph.D.
- 1953 – WSSU’s first CIAA championship of any kind (basketball).
- 1959 – WSTC wins its first national championship, the NAIA Track Championships. The team repeated in 1960.
- 1960 – WSSU Professor Lillian Lewis becomes the first Black school board member in Forsyth County.
- 1961 – Alumnus Eldridge D. Alston becomes Forsyth County’s first Black deputy sheriff.
- 1961 – Cleo Hill, first CIAA player chosen in the first round of the NBA draft.
- 1968 – Patricia Johansson, first white graduate at WSSU.
- 1972 – First Chancellor, K.R. Williams
