OSU marks Black History Month

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma State University marks the start of Black History Month by honoring the first black student who enrolled at the Stillwater campus.<br/><br/>Nancy Randolph Davis was allowed

Thursday, February 2nd 2006, 6:05 am

By: News On 6

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma State University marks the start of Black History Month by honoring the first black student who enrolled at the Stillwater campus.

Nancy Randolph Davis was allowed to enroll in three courses in the summer of 1949 despite sanctions facing the university, then called Oklahoma A&M College.

Initially told by one administrator blacks were not welcome, Davis persisted in her demands to pursue a master's degree.

State law allowed fines on university administrators who admitted black students, instructors who taught mixed classes and even the students who attended the classes.

Davis said she had to sit in the back of the room in two classes and in the third had to sit in the hallway and watch class through a window. That changed after about a week, when other students spoke out about her separation.