DeCosta-Willis honored as first Black faculty member at then-Memphis State
City Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon attends a ceremony on the University of Memphis campus, for his mother Miriam DeCosta-Willis, on Monday, Dec. 14. DeCosta-Willis was denied entrance to then-Memphis State University in 1957. In 1966, she became the school’s first Black professor. The recognition “speaks to the strength of the person we recognize and the evolution of diversity in this institution,” Sugarmon said. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)
The University of Memphis unveiled plans Monday, Dec. 14, for a plaque honoring Miriam DeCosta Sugarmon Willis, the school’s first African American faculty member.
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University of Memphis Miriam DeCosta-Willis David Rudd Tarik SugarmonBill Dries on demand
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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