Blacks@Dartmouth 1775 to 1960

According to this week’s press reports, the Medical School of the University of Virginia has accepted two Negro students for enrollment next fall. The students are Edward B. Nash of Richmond and Edward T. Wood of Lexington. Both are “A” students and graduated from Richmond’s Armstrong High School in June 1949. At present, Nash is attending the Virginia Union University while Wood is a pre-medical student at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Although the doors of the University of Virginia have been open to qualified Negro students since a three-judge Federal Court compelled it to admit Gregory Swanson to graduate studies at its law school in 1950, Nash and Wood are the first Negroes ever accepted for enrollment in the medical school. Commenting on the acceptance of these two young men, Byron F. Black, rector of the University, said the matter could be regarded as “routine.”

Since 1950, several Negroes have been enrolled at the University for post-graduate studies. The University of Virginia Hospital, an Agency of the University of Virginia, also established a precedent about a year ago when it accepted Negro graduate nurses on its nursing staff. They receive the same salary, work the same hours, and receive the same benefits as other nurses, salary and benefits being determined by the individual's length of service.