University of North Carolina Celebrates 1955 Racial Integration Milestone: Three distinguished University of North Carolina alumni were looking forward to doing something Saturday that they never could when they were students: watching the Tar Heels play football in the company of people of all races.When John Brandon and the brothers Ralph and LeRoy Frasier became the first three Black undergraduates at Chapel Hill, football games were still segregated by race, as were most public places in North Carolina.
Now, 55 years after a federal court allowed them to register for classes by overturning the university's racist admissions policy, the three are returning to be celebrated as pioneers by a UNC where the most famous alumnus is Michael Jordan and which has more Black students enrolled than any other major research institution.
“Those days were probably the most stressful of my life,” said Ralph Frasier, 72, during a visit Friday to campus. “I can't say that I have many happy memories.''
