Miriam Bamberger
Special Projects Reporter

Like many social institutions in the United States, GW remained racially segregated from its founding in 1821 until 1954, when the University officially desegregated. While no regulation officially prohibited the admission of black students, the University reflected the American norm of segregation, by law and by tradition.

For a brief period following the Civil War, a handful of black students were admitted to the Law School and were permitted to attend night classes in other graduate programs. However, the school soon bowed to the widespread racial prejudice that permeated the city and the country. Many people in D.C. felt segregation was justified by the proximity of Howard University, incorporated in 1867, which offered higher education exclusively to black students. As the Civil Rights movement gained momentum, internal and external forces pushed GW toward desegregation.

In October 1946 an event occurred that would become a catalyst for social change on campus. Lisner Auditorium gained local infamy when renowned Hollywood starlet Ingrid Bergman came to town, performing in the lead role of ³Joan of Lorraine.² When Bergman learned that the Lisner audience was segregated, she refused to perform, sparking a controversy between conservative and liberal political forces on campus.

An influx of angry editorials from both sides of the issue bombarded the opinion pages of The Hatchet. On Oct. 24 one student wrote, ³There is a disconcerting unclarity, lack of awareness and apathy on campus in regard to a very serious matter.²

The controversy gained off-campus attention in early November when The Washington Post ran an editorial criticizing the University¹s segregation policies.

³One would suppose (GW), as a seat of scholarship, to be above prejudice,² the Post editorial read.

Wishing to appease both sides but unwilling to institute radical change, the GW Board of Trustees agreed to ³desegregate² Lisner Auditorium on paper, while limiting the use of the facilities to organizations with all-white patronage.

In 1954, the decision to desegregate was taken out of the University¹s hands when the Supreme Court knocked down ³separate but equal² racial segregation in the landmark case Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. The following semester, all racial restrictions on admission were removed, and a handful of black students enrolled in GW¹s undergraduate program.

The student body showed little opposition to desegregation. The Hatchet wrote, ³We congratulate the University on its recent decision abolishing segregation on this campus.²

But despite the change in admissions policy, few black students enrolled at GW for nearly a decade after the campus was desegregated, said former University Historian Elmer Louis Kayser. This is mainly attributed to the undercurrent of prejudice that could not be wiped away by legislation. Also, socioeconomic inequality prevented blacks from receiving the same caliber of elementary and secondary education, thus making college education unattainable for many. Fifty years later, the University is still working to increase diversity, which was hindered by more than a century of segregation.