Despite living just west of campus, Harvest Collier had never visited Mississippi State University before he became one of the first Black students there in 1968.
“I had no sense of what it was like growing up and living in a totally segregated environment,” he said. “So you could imagine the cultural change that I had to figure out in arriving to campus.”
MSU had admitted its first Black student for the first time only three years before Collier had enrolled, but segregation and racism were still prevalent. Collier said he quickly discovered he was unprepared for the cultural experiences he encountered after stepping onto the campus for the first time.
Dealing with culture shock made Collier anxious. He remembers sitting in classes, unable to stop his left leg from shaking during the instruction. The usual challenges students face on a college campus — like finding a sense of belonging or identity on campus — were exacerbated for Collier as the only Black student in most of his classes. Having to find a lab partner was always a particular challenge, he remembered.
In another classroom, Robert Barnes was having a similar experience with two empty seats on either side of him. Even in large classes, white students would rather stand against the wall than sit beside a Black student, he said.
“Most classes there was only one Black person in that class,” Barnes said. “So as soon as class was over with, I was going to the YMCA building to have a conversation with people.”
The campus YMCA building was a sanctuary for Black students on campus after the school was integrated. It offered a safe space outside of the cultural challenges they faced on campus with professors, administrators and other students.
It was there that Collier, Barnes and other Black students built a community, or as Barnes describes it, “found comfort in uncomfortable places.”
“It had nothing to do with the building,” he said. “It had nothing to do with the YMCA per se. It had to do with the fact that … we found a community.”
Collier and Barnes joined three other Black alumni, Doug Milton, Linda Robinson Milton and Vernon White, on a panel Thursday to share their experiences as students during the years after integration in 1965. The event kicked off the university’s Black Alumni Weekend and coincided with the announcement of a new digital collection in the university archives called “Ring Your Bell and Tell Your Tale,” which highlights Black history on the MSU campus.
Growing the community
Doug Milton remembered the first time he visited the YMCA building.
“These people made you feel welcome, like you’re a member of the family,” he said. “They taught me the ropes … and opened up a brotherhood and sisterhood.”
With many of the Black students being first-generation college students, navigating campus life and accessing resources was difficult. The process of adjusting to life on campus was only made worse with the addition of a few unsupportive administrators.
“They tried to do everything they could to prevent us from being successful,” he said.
A solution to the problem was presented in 1972, a year Linda Milton said was a turning point for the university. Morris Kinsey, a professor at the time, created the Special Student Services that year. The organization was designed to provide assistance with signing up for classes, parking on campus and a number of other nuances about going to college that Black children weren’t exposed to yet, she said.
She said the Special Student Services became another place for Black students to find solace through shared experience.
“It was just another way where our community supported each other,” she said. “I could never speak for all Black people you will ever know, but I will tell you something that is almost always true. We know how to make do. So if the institution does not provide the support and the encouragement, we’ll find a way to make it happen.”
Barnes said the system of support they had built ultimately grew and expanded beyond the YMCA building.
“As the years went on, the community expanded in numbers and also in access to other things that we were doing,” he said. “Black Voices was founded in ‘72 or ‘73, and then you’d have other organizations.”
Collier remembers the difficulty during his time on campus, juggling academic success with trying to cope in a culturally tense environment.
But he embraced how those experiences helped him personally develop from the start and advises current students to do the same.
“What happened was, you gained some great insight about resilience, doing things that needed to be done and not having simple things be barriers for you,” he said.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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