The marker says: The University of Arkansas became the first major Southern public university to admit a black student without litigation when Silas Hunt of Texarkana, an African American veteran of World War II, was admitted to the University's law school in 1948. Roy Wilkins, administrator of the NAACP, wrote in 1950 that Arkansas was the "very first of the Southern states to accept the new trend without fighting a delaying action or attempting to ... limit, if not nullify, bare compliance."
Hunt's instruction was segregated from white students, although some white students often sat in on his class.
Silas Hunt Hall, across from the current location of the law school, was dedicated in his honor as the student admissions center in 1993.
This marker is located on Maple Avenue just north of Silas Hunt Hall.
Year Placed: 1999