The Carter G. Woodson Institute for Afro-American and African Studies is located in Minor Hall at the University of Virginia. For more information on Carter G. Woodson and the naming of the institute, see "The Proposal to Name the Institute.

According to Rick Turner, Dean of African American Affairs, there is no building named after Carter G. Woodson at the University of Virginia

The Office of African American Affairs is, however, named The Luther P. Jackson House.

Luther P. Jackson, a prominent African American Historian, was the Chairman of the History department at Virginia State University in the 1950's (Rick Turner, electronic mail, December 4, 2000).

There are two programs at the university named for Walter N. Ridley: The Walter N. Ridley Fund and the Ridley Presidential Scholarships.

The University is also developing plans for a marker commemorating the Catherine Foster family homesite on Venable Lane, just behind a building housing part of the music department (Louise Dudley, electronic mail, December 7, 2000).

Gregory Swanson, was the first African American to enter the university -- the law school -- in 1950.

Walter Nathaniel Ridley [above] entered the University of Virginia in 1951, already holding advanced degrees and a professorship at Virginia State. He earned a doctorate in Education, which was awarded in 1953.

The first African American to enter the College of Arts & Sciences was Amons Leroy Willis, who transferred from the Engineering school at mid year, during the academic session 1960-61 -- forty years ago next month .

The first African American to earn a Ph.D. from the University was Raymond Gavins, who wrote his dissertation under the direction of Paul Gaston and graduated in 1970. Raymond Gavins is now a Professor of History at Duke University.(Paul Gaston, electronic mail, December 9, 2000).

There are two women who participated in the U.Va. Women's Center "Women 2000: Shapers of the World" event in November who deserve inclusion in the list of African-American "firsts" at U.Va.

Vivian W. Pinn was the "only African American and the only woman in her School of Medicine class at U.Va." in 1967. In 1991 she became the "first Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of
Health."

Elaine Jones was "the first black woman to graduate from the University's Law School" in 1970 and today is the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund's director-counsel. Let's not forget the women! (Millie Fife, electronic mail, December 13, 2000).