Before the beginning of the large-scale entry of Black students into white universities in 1965-66, the academicworld itself scarcely noticed Blacks.
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While some universities would require federal urging to open their enrollment to blackstudents, these were primarily larger state universities. Many private colleges never explicitly forbade blacks,but practiced a de facto segregation. Before the black enrollment boom of the late 1960s, some schools, such asKenyon, began to investigate the possibilities of recruiting qualified black students. There were sparse scatteringsof solitary black students beginning to integrate all white campuses. Contributing factors included the Great Migration,the economic gains of World War II, military desegregation, and the Brown v. Board of education case. These allbrought hope to black Americans regarding their children's education.
