Day after day, you wake up, attend class, study your notes or copy someone else's (depending on if you went to class or not). From now until you walk across that stage, you're bound to go through some hard times. Whether it's your freshman year and you're homesick or you’re a senior, and your college adviser tells you that you don’t have enough credits to graduate. Everyone in college has a story, and a lot of times the only story we want to hear is our own because it's what we know. But, what about the stories of those who were at MSU before you and I?

More than a century ago when M.S.U was known as Michigan Agricultural College, there was a story being written by a small number of minority students. Facing all sorts of adversity, these students wrote a story that would lead to our very existence at M.S.U. And they did it at a time where minority students had more to worry about than waking up for an 8 a.m. class.

Minority students were not allowed to join organizations or Greeks. Black students couldn’t live on campus and had to find families that would take them in so they would have a place to live while in school. With all the racism, discrimination and inequality, there had to be a sense of doubt and uncertainty during these students' college careers. Yet, they thrived to make a way for the many to follow.

Class of 1892 - This photo of the graduates includes both Leander Burnett, the first Native American to graduate, and Kolia San Thabue, the first Burmese to receive a degree from green and white.

A lot of students say they feel awkward when they are the only minority student in a lecture class, and they are always asked to represent for their people. Fortunately, when they leave that class they know where to find people who look like they do. Back then, there was no support group, and you would be lucky to have a few students on campus that looked like you. Because of the scarcity of students of color, there were a number of students that did drop out.

Issues such as verbal and physical harassment forced a number of students to leave M.A.C. International students were harassed because of their culture and their struggle with the local language. This was a time when many international students didn’t conform in their dress and wore clothes of their culture.

To knock at your front door a little, it's close in comparison now to when you may see that Arab student wearing a turban or the group of Chinese or African students speaking their native language. On numerous occasions white students at that time would make comments or act out of ignorance, causing turmoil for the minority population at the predominantly white institution.

Just two years after Alfonso G. Palacio, the first Chicano/Latino to graduate from MAC, Alfonso Garcinava (in the middle) of Mexico, seen here with a few of his friends, also received his bachelor's degree in 1909.

 

As students of color, we can’t afford to settle for ignorance. Not knowing will only lead us nowhere. Rather than this possibly being the first time you thought about the first African-American, Asian, Native American or Chicano/Latino student to graduate from MSU, you should already want to know this information.

If not for Michitaro Tsuda, the first Asian to graduate in 1884; Leander Burnett, the first Native American graduate in 1892; William O. Thompson the first African-American graduate in 1904; Alfonso G. Palacio, the first Chicano/Latino graduate in 1907, then you should at least want to know for yourself.

You can never really understand how far things have come if you don’t know how it was before. As students of higher learning it is our responsibility to gather and contain as much knowledge as we can. A lot of minority history has been thrown away, burned and lost in time. There is no time to wait, for we must take a look back in time to find out as much as we can. Because if we don’t do the research now, tomorrow might be too late!

Make sure you understand what this means for you as you go through the timelines of the early minority accomplishments at MSU. Realize what is expected of you. For there are still some issues we face that reflect many of their long-ago struggles. But no matter what obstacles we may face, we can always look at their fight for motivation. These alumni were able to endure things we couldn’t even fathom, and in homage, we continue to fulfill our purpose-their dream.

Kizo Tamari of Tokyo (Master's - 1886)
Chioji Yoshida of Tokyo ( Bachelor's - 1890)
Kolia San Thabue of Burma (Bachelor's - 1892)
Shiochi Yebina of Japan (Bachelor's - 1895)
Wahey Matsura of Tokyo (Bachelor's - 1896)
Myrtle Craig- Mawbry (Black) (Bachelor's - 1907)
Alfonso Garcinava of Mexico (Bachelor's - 1909)
Pow Kwang Fu of China (Bachelor's - 1914)
Mingg Sear Lowe of China (Bachelor's - 1915)
Eugene Yates (first black to play in band and symphony for MSU) and Gideon Smith (first Black football player for MSU) (Bachelor's - 1916)
Manuel Justo of Puerto Rico (Master's - 1917)
Ludovico Hidrosollo and Santiago Lledan of the Philippine Islands (Bachelor's - 1920)
Margaret E. Collins (Black) (Bachelor's - 1924)
Mabel Jewel Lucas (Black) (Bachelor's - 1927)

Cyrus McNeal

back to the Purpose home page
back to the SpartanEdge.com home page