BlackListed! Magazine

After 105 years of racial segregation, George H. Starke Jr. broke through the barricades of racism that kept black students out of the University of Florida. On Sept. 15, 1958, Starke became the first black student enrolled at UF, four years after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954) declared the “separate but equal” doctrine for all public institutions and accommodations unconstitutional.

By today’s standards, Starke did not matriculate as a traditional student.  He first served the country three and a half years in the United States Air Force, fighting in the Korean War.  Thereafter, he attended Morehouse College, a historically black college for men in Atlanta, Ga., where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration.

After graduation, Starke decided to continue his education by pursuing a career in law.  

Revealing details of events that led up to his admittance to UF, Starke retold accounts of racism and fear. Both arose early in his law school career, affecting even his admissions process.

“(Some) people are looking for you to succeed, others want you to fail,” Starke said.

Starke took the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) on the campus of the University of South Carolina, as is traditionally done today, early on a Saturday morning.

He recalled that while standing on a corner, waiting for his exam to begin, he watched as a few black men drove by in a pick-up truck.

After circling the block, the truck returned, and one of the men called out to Starke, asking what he was doing on campus.

Starke said he replied that he was taking his law school exam.

“That isn’t a good idea because (you) could get in trouble,” said Starke recalling what the man said.

Starke said they further suggested that he take his exam elsewhere.

Disregarding their advice, Starke entered the auditorium and was met with uncomforting attitudes.

White students treated him like a leper, he said, staring in his direction and refusing to speak to him despite the murmurs and whistles that filled the room in accord with his presence.

He also noticed that no one chose to sit near him.

He refused to acknowledge the students, he said, but despite his efforts, he was soon reminded of the racial harassment he was up against.

Prior to the exam, one of the administrators got his attention and asked Starke to follow him outside.

Taken aback and unsure of what to expect, Starke recalled how he nervously followed him into the hallway.

Starke recalled that the administrator said,“(I apologize) for having to do this, but (you) can’t take (the) exam here.”

Starke proceeded to follow the administrator to the state capitol where he had received permission from the Secretary of State to proctor his exam there.

The administrator tried to spin the situation, Starke said, by telling him that it was better this way because at least he had air conditioning and would not be with a large group of students sweating in a hot room.

Despite his LSAT experience, in which Starke in hindsight said he would have made objections if informed of the surrounding circumstances, Starke was accepted and considered admission to the three law schools, which he applied: Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Mo., and the University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville, Fla.

An Orlando native, Starke decided to continue his education at the University of Florida College of Law, despite his awareness that no black student before had been admitted.

Yet Starke said that his enrollment process and time at the law school was not loaded with incidents of overt racism.

“Everyone treated me just as another student,” he said.

He was an average student with special treatment.

Jim Glass, the law school student body president at the time, visited Starke at his home in Orlando before his first day, and the administration arranged for the bookstore to be open during special hours, so that he could avoid the back-to-school rush.

However, in spite of being the first black student enrolled, Starke did not complete his law school education at UF.

In addition to the added pressure that being the first black student had on his schoolwork, Starke said that he cited health issues, such as the development of allergies and weight gain, as factors for leaving the University of Florida in the spring of 1960.

Last week, Starke returned to UF for the Black Student Union integration commemoration program, marking the day 50 years ago, in which he broke the color line at UF.  

“(I am) glad to see that the university is committing a year’s programs to this type of activity,” he said.

If he could return, Starke said that he would have done one thing differently.

“(I) would have waited until someone else was the first (black student),” he said.  

Furthermore, he said that he would have preferred to be the fourth or even the fifth black student to be enrolled at UF.

Then, Starke said, people would have had time to assess and adjust to desegregation as a matter of fact; as the way things would be.

For more information about the 50th year anniversary celebration of integration at UF, visit http://www.urel.ufl.edu/50/