About the Mary Frances Early Speaker Series
Each year, speakers are invited to deliver a lecture that honors Ms. Early’s quiet determination and dignity as she strived to ensure that the state’s flagship university became an institution of higher learning for all the people of Georgia.
The 25th Annual Mary Frances Early Lecture will be February 4, 2025. This year marks the 63rd anniversary of Mary Frances Early’s graduation in 1962 as the first African American to earn a graduate degree from UGA.
In celebration of 25 years of the Mary Frances Early Lecture Series, trail blazers and influential thought leaders Dr. Valerie White and Dr. Tracey Ford were this year’s speakers.
The event was free and open to the public and took place on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, at 2:00 pm in Mahler Hall at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.
The Mary Frances Early Lecture is sponsored by the Graduate School, Graduate and Professional Scholars (GAPS), the Mary Frances Early College of Education, and the Office Inclusive Excellence (OIE). It is part of The Signature Lecture Series coordinated by the Office of the Provost.
Lecture Vision and History
The annual lecture demonstrates the progress that has been made while also recognizing that work remains to fully realize Ms. Early’s vision. With pride, we salute Ms. Early for all that she has accomplished and for the excellence, integrity, fortitude, and grace that she represents.
In 1999, Graduate and Professional Scholars (GAPS) members Tracey Ford and Valerie White proposed that Ms. Early serves as the featured speaker for the GAPS Spring Lecture. Her selection was prompted in part by her appearance in Foot Soldiers for Equal Justice, the documentary chronicling the desegregation of the University of Georgia. Dr. Maurice Daniels, the former GAPS co-advisor, served as senior researcher and executive director of the Foot Soldiers project.
Following Ms. Early’s keynote address on April 18, 2000, GAPS renamed its annual spring lecture in her honor. In 2010, in consultation with Ms. Early, the Graduate School assumed responsibility for the event, working in partnership with GAPS to promote and maintain the event’s visibility and consistency.
More about Ms. Mary Frances Early’s Published Autobiography
Ms. Mary Frances Early’s autobiography, “The Quiet Trailblazer: My Journey as the First Black Graduate of the University of Georgia” recounts her experience coming to campus as one of the first Black students to enroll at UGA. In August 1962, Ms. Early once again made history as the first Black student to earn a Graduate degree from UGA. She earned a master’s degree in music education. She chronicles her career as a music educator, first teaching in segregated schools before blazing trails to lead the Atlanta City Schools music education department and then becoming the first African American elected president of the Georgia Music Educators Association.
Mary Frances Early discusses her autobiography with WUGA’s Alexia Ridley, Sept. 22, 2021 – listen here.
