American universities have not been spared during the past decades of racist practices against African Americans, as the story of the first African-American student at Auburn University in Alabama reveals.

In her article published in the Washington Post, writer Dennin Brown sheds light on the story of the black American student Harold Franklin, who was prevented by racial laws from completing his university education, before obtaining a master's degree more than 50 years after his graduation.

Franklin studied at Auburn University in Alabama more than 50 years ago, and university laws required him to live in a dormitory alone, as he was the only black student at the university at the time, and he was prevented from discussing a master's thesis.

The newspaper quotes Franklin, who turned 86, as saying about that stage, that "every time he carried his thesis to discuss it, the professors would reject it and find it a problem."

He adds that one of the professors told him that his thesis must be perfect because he is a black student, and his answer was that he looked at the theses of white students and did not find them of high quality.

Refusal

The author confirms that Franklin submitted several thesis projects in Auburn, but they were all rejected, only to realize that he was facing systematic racist practices, but he did not give up, and years later he obtained a master's degree in international studies from the University of Denver, and taught history at Alabama State University and North Carolina State University And Tuskegee Institute and Talladega College, until his retirement in 1992.

In 2001, Auburn University honored Franklin as the first black student to study, and awarded him an honorary doctorate in arts, but it never addressed the racist practices he encountered during his school years and during his dissertation.

On February 19, Franklin went to Auburn, specifically the history department, and stood before a committee consisting of four faculty members to defend his master's thesis 50 years ago.

Although his memory is not as sharp as it was in the past, the author says, and he did not know much about the kinds of questions that might be asked to him, he "prepared for this moment well."

For many years, Auburn University had claimed that Franklin left the university of his own accord.

But according to Keith Hebert, associate professor of history at Auburn, the university did not "fully address his story" even though it celebrated him as the first black student.

"During all these celebrations and discussions about integration in Auburn, they ignored the story of this man who was deprived of a degree he deserved," Hibbert quotes.

Success

After more than 50 years, Franklin successfully debated his thesis and was supposed to earn his degree at a university graduation ceremony, but it was canceled due to the Corona pandemic.

The writer says that Franklin received his testimony in the mail last June, at a time when demonstrations "black lives matter" were sweeping the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and Bruna Taylor.