Explore African American contributions at the University of Georgia through the self-guided Steps Towards Inclusion site tour, featuring 10 locations across the UGA Athens campus. The Steps Towards Inclusion tour can be completed in person during the month of February or online year-round through our immersive virtual experience.
Mary Frances Early College of Education
110 Carlton Street, Athens, GA
Mary Frances Early was a student at the University of Michigan when she saw the protests surrounding Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes enrolling at the University of Georgia in 1961. Holmes and Hunter-Gault both graduated from Henry McNeal Turner High School, the same as Early. To support them and the overall desegregation of UGA, Early decided to transfer and became the first African American student admitted to the UGA Graduate School.
Early graduated from UGA on August 16, 1962, with her master’s degree in music education, becoming the first African American to earn a degree from the university. She returned to UGA a few years later, earning her Specialist in Education degree in 1967. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University).
Early became a music teacher in Atlanta Public Schools and was eventually promoted to music director of the entire school system. She retired in 1994 after working for 37 years in public schools. She later taught at Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University as head of the music department.
UGA’s College of Education was named in Mary Frances Early’s honor in 2019, making her the first Black woman to have a college named after her at the university.
