Freedom of Expression for All People
Borchuck Plaza, located in front of Sherrod Library, is a special place on campus. Often the site of public meetings, peaceful protests, vigils, and other forms of civic expression and reflection, Borchuck is the physical embodiment of the university's commitment to free expression and civil discourse.
The Borchuck Plaza Memorial Fountain
A fountain in the center of the plaza tells a story of hope, inspiration, and courage and is dedicated to the five Black students who first desegregated East Tennessee State University: Eugene Caruthers, Elizabeth Watkins Crawford, Clarence McKinney, George L. Nichols, and Mary Luellen Owens Wagner. These students went on to succeed in education, civil rights activism, military service, and business. The constantly flowing water in the fountain is a reminder of these pioneering individuals' enduring place in our university's history.
Desegregation at ETSU
The following segment was republished with permission from an article in the East Tennessean, ETSU's student newspaper.
[In 1965], ETSU was known as East Tennessee State College, the infamous steps of Rogers-Stout Hall did not exist and wouldn’t for another 11 years and Eugene Caruthers enrolled as ETSC’s first black student.
The college’s decision to integrate came two years after the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board decision that ruled segregation in public schools as unconstitutional.
Caruthers’ enrollment was announced in a short, front page article in the “Johnson City Press-Chronicle,” now known as the “Johnson City Press,” stating that he was a music and science teacher at Langston High School and he would be studying Psychology of the Exceptional Child and School Administration.
Two years later in 1958, Elizabeth Watkins Crawford, George L. Nichols, Mary Luellen Owens Wagner and Clarence McKinney enrolled as the college’s first black undergraduate students.
Getting lost among a sea of headlines describing bloody riots and hateful speeches, ETSC was able to desegregate quietly in both instances.
The college integrated in the middle of the Little Rock Crisis, where nine black students in Little Rock, Arkansas, were met with riots and violence upon their arrival at Little Rock Central High School in 1957. A year later, Little Rock was still making headlines.
In the weeks leading up to the black undergraduate students’ enrollment, Buford Ellington, future Governor of Tennessee, said, “I cannot believe it is in the best interest of all the people of our state that we mix our races in the public schools,” along the campaign trail.
An editorial by David Lawrence titled, “Tennesseans- Like Arkansas- Against Integration,” was featured in the “Johnson City Press-Chronicle” in August 1958.
Yet, ETSC was still able to integrate peacefully.
Today, a fountain and historical marker located in front of the Sherrod Library commemorates
those five students.
