University honors Black female student banned from 1918 graduation

Mar 22, 2018

It’s like a 100 years late but hey, better late than never. The University of Colorado is honoring its first black female graduate after she wasn’t allowed to walk in her graduation ceremony to celebrate her accomplishment.

According to The Hill, Lucile Berkeley Buchanan was not allowed to walk in her 1918 graduation ceremony despite having taken all the required classes and exams.

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The information about Buchanan being the first black female to graduate was discovered by an associate professor. The Daily Camera reports that Polly McLean, a Colorado University associate professor who researched the woman’s story and corrected the record at the university, will host the inaugural Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Lecture on April 4.

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According to The Hill, “[W]hen the moment came to be acknowledged at the graduation ceremony—to walk across the stage, have your hand shaken, to be given a diploma—that didn’t happen,” Ann Carlos, a dean at the school, told the Post. “And so this celebration of this woman’s life was both to help us all remember who she was and to acknowledge and make a small reparation for the fact that she didn’t walk 100 years ago.”

According to US News, Buchanan was born in Denver in 1884 to former slaves. She earned a degree in German at Colorado University and taught in Colorado and Illinois. She died at age 105 in 1989.