Mary Price Walls

Mary Jean Price Walls was born in 1932 in Nogo, Missouri,[1] a town since incorporated into Strafford. She was the first black applicant to Missouri State University, after graduating salutatorian from Lincoln School in Springfield, Missouri.[2] Due to existing segregation at the time, however, the university ignored her application. Without a response, she was prevented from gaining admission to the all-white University. Four years later, around the time Walls would have received her Bachelor's degree, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to deny black children the same education that is offered to white students, in the historic Brown V. Board of Education case. However, it was too late for Mary Price Walls, who went on to work as an elevator operator and janitor.

In 2010, Walls was given an honorary degree when her son, a current student at MSU, uncovered that she was their first black applicant in 1950.[3] Walls had hopes of becoming a school teacher.[4]

Present life

Sixty years after her original rejection, Missouri State University attempted to correct its wrongdoing by presenting Walls with the university's first-ever honorary undergraduate degree. Today, four percent of the student body at Missouri State is African-American. Among this percentage is Mary Walls' son, Terry, who is working toward a degree in criminology. The University has established the Mary Jean Price Walls Multicultural Resource Center,[5] housing study and meeting spaces, as well as a resource library.

Mary Jean Price Walls passed away on July 6th, 2020.[6]

References
  1. Dakota (2010-07-02). "Mary Price Walls". Missouri Women. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  2. Mary Jean Price (Walls) - Missouri State University's 1st African American Applicant, retrieved 2022-04-13
  3. Davis, Linsey (28 July 2010). "Woman Finally Gets College Degree, Delayed 60 Years by Segregation". ABC News. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  4. Dakota (2010-07-02). "Mary Price Walls". Missouri Women. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  5. "Mary Jean Price Walls Multicultural Resource Center - Multicultural Programs - Missouri State". www.missouristate.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  6. Reporter, Ash Garza, Staff. "Remembering Mary Jean Price Walls". The Standard. Retrieved 2022-04-13.


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