Emory’s Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library (MARBL) hosted a symposium Friday to honor the life of Ulysses S. Byas, the first black school superintendent in a Southern state.

MARBL curator of African American collections Randall Burkett said that the symposium centered around the work of professor of educational studies Vanessa Siddle Walker, whose book, Hello Professor: A Black Principal and Professional Leadership in the Segregated South, was published last May.

The book focuses on Byas’ life and describes both his struggles and triumphs as a black educator.

Around the time of the book’s publication, Byas donated his papers and writings to MARBL.

“Dr. Walker played an instrumental part in encouraging Dr. Byas to donate his papers to MARBL,” Burkett said. “Students will now be able to access the papers and conduct research on how black teachers and professors changed the formerly racist education system in America.”

In her introduction to the program, Walker said that she wrote the book about Byas in order to “tell the world about the importance of black educators in the past, as their story is one that is often forgotten or overlooked.”

Burkett said in a University press release that the acquisition of these papers and writings will help researchers to develop a better understanding of the role those black educators played in history.

“African American principals played a key role in promoting civil rights, though often they had to do so in an indirect and discreet way, given their vulnerability to the white-controlled education systems within which they operated,” Burkett said in the release. “[Byas’ papers] will yield important new material for understanding the role that black principals and teachers played in advancing the cause of quality education in the latter half of the 20th century.”

Walker also said that the acquisition of Byas’ papers will help place Emory on the map as a leader in African-American literature research.

The symposium featured keynote speaker James Anderson, head of educational policy studies and professor of history at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who spoke about the history of education for black students.

Anderson began his speech by explaining the difference between the quality of education during his generation and his mother’s generation.

“When my mother was going to school, they only had an elementary-school education for black students; it wasn’t until my generation that a high-school education for black students had been developed,” he said.

Anderson said that he took having a high-school education for granted until he began studying the lives of black educators, whom he said were forced to be the leaders in their communities and to push for change while at the same time encouraging black students to persevere in their studies.

“Black educators had to learn how to work within the system,” he said. “They couldn’t appear to be too smart or too pushy; otherwise they wouldn’t get what they wanted.”

Anderson also addressed the common misconception people have in terms of the famous legal case Brown v. Board of Education.

Anderson said that many people believe Brown v. Board of Education solved all the differences that existed in terms of education for white and black students.

“Brown only provided us with the legal power to integrate schools, but it didn’t change any of the prejudices that other students and teachers had,” he said.

Instead, he claimed, most of the efforts that changed the racist education system were a result of the work done in black schools.

After Anderson’s speech, the symposium’s honoree, Byas, made a short speech about his experiences as the first black school superintendent.

“It was tough,” he said, “but I would have done it for no money at all.”

Byas then went on to describe his early life as a student who was a two-time high school dropout before he successfully graduated.

“That experience taught me to remember that students are people too,” he said. “Everybody has their own way of doing things but my job as an educator was to help as many students as possible to learn and to stay in school.”

At the end of his speech Byas left the audience with some words of inspiration.

“Whenever any student, regardless of if they’re black or white, thinks about giving up on school, remind them of the struggles it took to form this type of school system; they must remember and not make our efforts go in vain,” he said.

Audience members browsed through some of Byas’ papers in an exhibit organized by fourth-year graduate student Keisha Green.

“This symposium was a defining moment and an extraordinary opportunity for me,” Green said. “It is amazing to be able to talk to and study a person who was a part of the history we now study.”

Richard Haynes, a former student of Byas, said: “Byas was the single greatest influence in my life and I am impressed with Emory for noticing Byas’s incredible achievement and giving him the honor he truly deserves.”

— Contact Pooja Dhruv