Ogden, Geraldine Cox

On September 30, 1954, Mrs. Geraldine Cox Ogden was the first white student admitted to Kentucky State College [now Kentucky State University]. She was a part-time student, taking a 2 credit hour course toward her bachelor's degree in physical education at the University of Kentucky. Ogden lived in Frankfort, KY. R. B. Atwood, president of Kentucky State College, wanted the admission of Mrs. Ogden to be handled quietly, and said that he felt it was time to enroll a white student since Negro students were being enrolled in other state colleges. Mrs. Geraldine Cox Ogden left Kentucky State College after one week, she took a job in Lexington. For more see document "Kentucky State admits white student," 10/04/1954, pp.38-39 within the file Kentucky State College (Frankfort), Louisville Municipal College, & West KY Vocational Training School (Paducah), part of The Claude A. Burnett Papers: The Associated Negro Press, 1918-1967, Part 3: Subject Files on Black Americans, 1918-1967, Series A, Agriculture, 1923-1966 -- Proquest History Vault; p.108 in Fifty Years of Segregation by J. A. Hardin; and "Kentucky State College admits first white student," Jet, 10/14/1954, p.25. See also the NKAA entry for Betty Marie Ellis, the first white student to apply for admission to Kentucky State College. See also Barry Coleman Moore, the first white football player at Kentucky State College.