2008 Alumni Lecture Series: Pioneers of Integration
In the fall of 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower ordered federal troops to intervene in the racially charged desegregation of Little Rock's Central High School. As images of the nine African-American students walking through an angry mob inundated the nation's evening news shows and newspapers, a similar, yet starkly different set of events was happening atop College Hill in Clarksville. Five Arkansas students enrolled at Ozarks, becoming her first African-American students, and becoming five of the first African-Americans to enroll at a predominately white university in Arkansas.
During Alumni Weekend 2008, two of these pioneers of integration returned to campus to participate in the Alumni Lecture Series. Dr. Dodson was one of the five African-American students who enrolled at Ozarks in 1957, while Mr. Benson, who enrolled 1963, was one of the first African-American students to play collegiate sports in Arkansas. Kristina Mariswamy, KUOZ Channel 6 reporter, prepared this feature story, going behind the scenes of Dr. Dodson's and Mr. Benson's return to Ozarks.
