Uncovering the Legacy of UVA’s First Black Woman Graduate

ByLaura Hoxworth via https://news.virginia.edu/

Margaret Thornton is leading a push to recognize the life and accomplishments of E. Louise Stokes Hunter, who earned her doctorate in education from UVA in 1953.

oon-to-be triple ’Hoo Margaret Thornton was perusing the latest issue of her University of Virginia alumni magazine last summer – highlighting the “Retold” project, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of women being admitted as undergraduates at UVA – when one sentence caught her attention: “E. Louise Stokes Hunter (Educ ’53) becomes the first Black woman to earn a UVA degree.”

In her 15 years at UVA, Thornton had never heard of Hunter. So she did what we all do when confronted with curiosity: She started Googling.

Less than a year later, Thornton’s search has led to a renamed student research conference, an ongoing funded research project and a campaign to elevate Hunter’s legacy at UVA.

Hunter completed her doctorate in education from the School of Education and Human Development in 1953, just a few months after the University’s first Black graduate, Walter N. Ridley. She then spent a long career as a professor at Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), where she was known for her mentorship of Black students, particularly Black women …

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