Harvey Beech, James Lassiter, J. Kenneth Lee, Floyd McKissick and James Robert Walker enrolled in the UNC School of Law in 1951, following a court order that said the Law School must admit Black students. They became the first African American students at the University of North Carolina. After they enrolled, other graduate and professional schools at Carolina began admitting African American students.

The same legal ruling that opened the door for Carolina’s first Black law students also made way for Oscar Diggs, in 1951, to become the first African American to attend Carolina’s medical school. Diggs graduated in 1955, becoming the first African American Doctor of Medicine from the university. By the mid-1950s, Black students were admitted to the College of Arts and Sciences.

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