Bench dedication to honor first black students at MU

Edwin Fuller had other plans for the summer of 1954. As a 16-year-old graduate of Wichita Falls' Booker T. Washington High School, he had already been accepted by the University of Illinois. But as a three-year lawsuit ended with the ruling that Midwestern University must integrate, local NAACP leader Leland Jenkins Sr. asked Fuller if he would enroll at MU with his sons Leland Jr. and Wynell, also Booker T. Washington graduates, and added that Fuller's father approved of the idea. So that summer, Fuller and the Jenkins brothers, with fellow Booker T. Washington graduate Charles Bosley, and Nevada Easley of Topeka, Kansas, became the first five black students to attend MU.

Those students will be honored with a bench dedicated to them during a ceremony to be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, near the Ferguson Building. Surviving students Bosley and Fuller will attend the ceremony with family members of the other students.

Dr. Syreeta Greene, a director in the Office of Student Affairs, said that the enrollment of MSU Texas' first black students is significant to the fight for equality and access that African-Americans across the country were fighting for at the time, and continue to fight for today. "Honoring these individuals serves as a reminder to the community of Wichita Falls as to where we were, where we are, and where we desire to be." A Texas Historical Marker was dedicated last year at MSU Texas to recognize the desegregation of the university, and the students who were turned away before integration.

Fuller was apprehensive that summer. "I had never been in a classroom with a white person. It was a new experience for me," he said. But he said that his professors were helpful and other students were nice, and his first semester in college was a positive experience. In the fall, Fuller went on to the University of Illinois, but took another class at MU the next summer.

Bosley agreed that his first semester in college was positive. "There were other incidents that occurred around the country, but those did not occur at Midwestern," he said. "We were students taking classes, and that was it. We didn't realize until later that it was an historic time." Bosley graduated from MU in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science in biology.

Today, Fuller and Bosley are orthopedic surgeons in California.

Fuller said that he has good feelings about the bench dedication. "It's good when we can look back, make amends, and communicate," he said.

Bosley said that the Texas Historical Marker recognized those students who were not able to attend Midwestern University because of their race. "The bench gives recognition to those who were successful in being the first," he said.

After a short outdoor ceremony, a discussion will be held in Clark Student Center Comanche Suites with Bosley, Fuller, and family members of the other students. The discussion will be followed by a reception. 

*Revised in accordance with SB 17, Texas Legislature, 2023