Date of Award

Summer 7-24-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Committee Chair

Mac Duis

Committee Member

Lucinda Spaulding

Committee Member

Tracy Richardson

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study is to give a voice to the lived experiences of the first Black students entering previously all-White private colleges in Central Virginia. The study consists of interviewing some of the first Black students to attend Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and Lynchburg College. The theories guiding this study are Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model and Critical Race Theory. Data collection methods triangulate the research using semi-structured virtual personal interviews, artifacts such as college yearbooks, and a focus group involving all participants. The data is analyzed and coded using van Manen’s hermeneutic approach and Saldaña’s coding methods. The findings of this study demonstrate that, despite the unfavorable experiences of that time period, the participants reported more positive than negative themes. For example, the first Black male student to live on campus at Lynchburg College was not allowed to be in a dorm room with only one White male student—two had to be in the room for safety reasons. However, this desegregationist is one of the strongest supporters for sharing the positive aspects of his college experience. All seven of the participants fought in their own ways to successfully graduate from their respective colleges. They found their support systems. In recent years, colleges created offices to support the negative issues these students endured. In conclusion, I have a concern that the offices created to support diversity on college campuses are now being dismantled. I am concerned that the experiences the desegregationists endured may return.

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