About the Mary Frances Early Speaker Series

Each year, a speaker is invited to deliver a lecture that honors Ms. Early’s quiet determination and dignity as she strived to ensure that the state’s flagship university became an institution of higher learning for all the people of Georgia.

The 25th Annual Mary Frances Early Lecture will be announced soon.​​​​​​​ This year marks the 63rd anniversary of Mary Frances Early’s graduation in 1962 as the first African American to earn a graduate degree from UGA. 

Twenty-Fifth Annual Mary Frances Early Lecture

The event is free and open to the public and will take place in Mahler Hall at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. The Mary Frances Early Lecture is sponsored by the Graduate School, Graduate and Professional Scholars (GAPS), the Mary Frances Early College of Education, and the Office Institutional Diversity (OID). It is part of The Signature Lecture Series coordinated by the Office of the Provost.


Lecture Vision and History

The annual lecture demonstrates the progress that has been made while also recognizing that work remains to fully realize Ms. Early’s vision. With pride, we salute Ms. Early for all that she has accomplished and for the excellence, integrity, fortitude, and grace that she represents.

In 1999, Graduate and Professional Scholars (GAPS) members Tracey Ford and Valerie White proposed that Ms. Early serves as the featured speaker for the GAPS Spring Lecture. Her selection was prompted in part by her appearance in Foot Soldiers for Equal Justice, the documentary chronicling the desegregation of the University of Georgia. Dr. Maurice Daniels, the former GAPS co-advisor, served as senior researcher and executive director of the Foot Soldiers project.

Following Ms. Early’s keynote address on April 18, 2000, GAPS renamed its annual spring lecture in her honor. In 2010, in consultation with Ms. Early, the Graduate School assumed responsibility for the event, working in partnership with GAPS to promote and maintain the event’s visibility and consistency.


More about Ms. Mary Frances Early’s Published Autobiography

Ms. Mary Frances Early’s autobiography, “The Quiet Trailblazer: My Journey as the First Black Graduate of the University of Georgia recounts her experience coming to campus as one of the first Black students to enroll at UGA. In August 1962, Ms. Early once again made history as the first Black student to earn a Graduate degree from UGA. She earned a master’s degree in music education. She chronicles her career as a music educator, first teaching in segregated schools before blazing trails to lead the Atlanta City Schools music education department and then becoming the first African American elected president of the Georgia Music Educators Association.

Mary Frances Early discusses her autobiography with WUGA’s Alexia Ridley,  Sept. 22, 2021 – listen here.


Previous Speakers

2024

Yvette K. Daniels – Director of University Relations in the Division of Workforce Management for the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH)

2023

Monica Kaufman Pearson – First Female & African American News Anchor in Atlanta

2022

Robert J. Jones – Chancellor of the University of Illinois

2020

Marion Ross Fedrick – President, Albany State University

2019

Dr. Christopher Emdin – Associate Professor, New York Times bestselling author, Founder of #hiphoped social media movement

2018

Bakari Sellers – Attorney, Politician, and CNN Political Analyst

2017

Dr. Joycelyn Elders – 16th U.S. Surgeon General

2016

Dr. Johnetta B. Cole – Anthropologist, and Former President of Spelman and Benedict Colleges

2015

Michael Thurmond – Superintendent of the DeKalb County School District, distinguished attorney, and author

2014

Donna Brazile – Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation for the Democratic National Committee

2013

Hank Klibanoff – James M. Cox, Jr. Professor of Journalism at Emory University

2012

Cynthia Tucker – Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at UGA

2011

Rep. John Lewis – U.S. Representative of Georgia’s 5th District

2010

Ambassador Andrew Young – GoodWorks International LLC

2009

Dr. Maurice Daniels – Dean of UGA School of Social Work

2008

Ms. Harriet A. Washington – Medical ethicist

2007

Ms. Elaine Brown, Esq. – Politician, activist

2006

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson – Religious scholar, commentator

2005

Ms. Charisse Jones & Dr. Kumea Shorter-Gooden – Authors

2004

Dr. Nai’m Akbar – Professor of Psychology

2003

Dr. Mitchell F. Rice – Political scientist

2002

Dr. Sharon Ames Dennard – 2002 Working Mother of the Year

2001

Dr. Reuben Warren – Bioethics researcher

2000

Ms. Mary Frances Early – Civil rights pioneer, music educator


 
 
 

Unlocking potential. Building futures.

Apply Today