Mary Price Walls was the first black applicant to Missouri State University. She was denied admission to the all white university. Instead of receiving a rejection letter she did not receive anything at all. Later, Walls was given an honorary degree when her son, a current student at MSU, uncovered that she was their first black applicant in 1950. Walls had hopes of becoming a school teacher, however, her dreams were crushed and she was never given a chance due to the segregation of the time. Four years later, around the time Walls would have received her bachelor's degree, the U.S Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to deny black children the same education that is offered to white students as seen in the historic Brown V. Board of Education case. Though, it was too late for Mary Price Walls, for several years she worked as an elevator operator.
Present Life
If it was not for Mary Walls son, Terry, the history of her being the first black student to apply to Missouri State would still remain unknown.
60 years later, Missouri State attempted to correct it's wrongdoing by presenting Walls with the university's first-ever honorary undergraduate degree. Today, four percent of the student body at Missouri State is African-American. Among this percentage is Mary Walls son, Terry, who is working toward a degree in criminology.