This year marks the 60th anniversary of Mary Frances Early’s graduation in 1962 as the first Black student to earn a graduate degree from UGA. Please join us in commemorating this historical milestone at the annual Mary Frances Early Lecture, to be held on Tuesday, February 22.
Each year, a speaker is 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.
To honor Ms. Early’s vision, Chancellor Robert J. Jones of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will deliver the lecture. He is the first African American scholar appointed as chancellor of the University of Illinois, the state’s flagship, land-grant university. Chancellor Jones is a Georgia native that has worked to make education available to young scholars around the world. Read more about Chancellor Jones.
Click here for more details about the event.
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.
The Mary Frances Early Lecture is sponsored in part by the Graduate School, Graduate and Professional Scholars (GAPS), the Mary Frances Early College of Education, and the Office Institutional Diversity (OID).
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.
Previous Lecturers
| 2021 | Nikki Giovanni | Distinguished Professor |
| 2020 | Marion Ross Fedrick | President, Albany State University |
| 2019 | Dr. Christopher Emdin | Associate Professor, New York Times bestselling author, Founder of #hiphoped social media movement |
| 2018 | Bakari Sellers | Attorney, Politician, and CNN Political Analyst |
| 2017 | Dr. Joycelyn Elders | 16th U.S. Surgeon General |
| 2016 | Dr. Johnetta B. Cole | Anthropologist, and Former President of Spelman and Benedict Colleges |
| 2015 | Michael Thurmond | Superintendent of the DeKalb County School District, distinguished attorney, and author |
| 2014 | Donna Brazile | Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation for the Democratic National Committee |
| 2013 | Hank Klibanoff | James M. Cox, Jr. Professor of Journalism at Emory University |
| 2012 | Cynthia Tucker | Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at UGA |
| 2011 | Rep. John Lewis | U.S. Representative of Georgia’s 5th District |
| 2010 | Ambassador Andrew Young | GoodWorks International LLC |
| 2009 | Dr. Maurice Daniels | Dean of UGA School of Social Work |
| 2008 | Ms. Harriet A. Washington | Medical ethicist |
| 2007 | Ms. Elaine Brown, Esq. | Politician, activist |
| 2006 | Dr. Michael Eric Dyson | Religious scholar, commentator |
| 2005 | Ms. Charisse Jones & Dr. Kumea Shorter-Gooden | Authors |
| 2004 | Dr. Nai’m Akbar | Professor of Psychology |
| 2003 | Dr. Mitchell F. Rice | Political scientist |
| 2002 | Dr. Sharon Ames Dennard | 2002 Working Mother of the Year |
| 2001 | Dr. Reuben Warren | Bioethics researcher |
| 2000 | Ms. Mary Frances Early | Civil rights pioneer, music educator |
For more information regarding the lecture, please contact Geovani Ayala, Associate Director, at geoayala@uga.edu or 706-542-6416.