Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Published June 24, 2026 at 10:00 AM EDT

1 of 3 — Charlayne Hunter Gault

Student Charlayne Hunter, 18, the first Black girl to attend the University of Georgia, smiles as she is interviewed in Athens, Georgia, on Jan. 11, 1961 following her first class in Meigs Hall. The previously White university was ordered to integrated by federal courts. (AP Photo/Horace Cort)

Horace Cort/ASSOCIATED PRESS / AP

2 of 3 — Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault attends the 74th Annual Peabody Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on Sunday, May 31, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP / Invision

3 of 3 — Charlayne Hunter Gault

Student Charlayne Hunter, 18, the first Black girl to enter the University of Georgia, relaxes momentarily from her studies in her dormitory in Athens, Georgia, on Jan. 11, 1961. (AP Photo)

wam/ASSOCIATED PRESS / AP

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is one of the first two African-Americans to integrate the University of Georgia in 1961.

Although an ideal candidate for admission to UGA, she was initially rejected several times. With the help of the NAACP and a group of lawyers from Atlanta, she and classmate Hamilton Holmes challenged their admissions decisions and won. Their presence at the university was met with hostility and violence, but Hunter-Gault overcame these indignities and went on to graduate with a BA in journalism in 1963.

She was the first black reporter at the New Yorker, established the New York Times' Harlem Bureau and served in prominent roles at PBS, NPR and CNN. She has won numerous awards, including two National Emmy awards and two Peabody awards.

Now a deeply respected colleague in UGA's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, she often returns to campus to address the topic of racial discrimination.