African-American HistoryBlack StudiesMilestones

Wake Forest University Celebrates 50 Years of Racial Integration

Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is holding events all year commemorating the racial integration of the university a half century ago. In 1962, Ed Reynolds from Ghana became the first Black student to enroll as a full-time student at Wake Forest. He graduated two years later in 1964.

Reynolds returned to Wake Forest this past weekend for a discussion of the events that occurred 50 years ago. A documentary film, Faces of Courage: Wake Forest’s Impetus to Desegregate, was shown.

Ed Reynolds at Wake Forest in 1962.

The university also unveiled a Faces of Courage website which includes a wealth of information on diversity at Wake Forest and several videos of students talking about their experiences. Below is a video of Ed Reynolds talking about his decision to come to Wake Forest.

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