In 1959, Galesburg banned Earley from graduating and denied him a diploma after he and other African-Americans had a picnic in a park that was unofficially off-limits to blacks.
Earley, now a retired attorney, says he never thought the day would come, but as the Galesburg class of '59 gathered for a reunion this weekend, the school superintendent called Earley forward, dressed in his college gown, to accept his diploma.
A school counselor had warned him in 1959 there could be a price to pay for challenging the city's entrenched segregation — but Earley went anyway.
"We were just trying to send a message that we are people, too," Earley says. "We just had lunch. For that, I didn't graduate."
