Thelma White - El Paso, Texas

Thelma Joyce White's family moved to El Paso when she was a little girl. Thelma graduated as class valedictorian from Douglass High School in 1954, the only school for African Americans in El Paso until the desegregation of schools in 1956. After, she applied for admission to Texas Western College (today: UTEP), she was rejected due to the university's policy of racial exclusion for black undergraduates. White then attended New Mexico A&M College in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Nonetheless, in March 1955 lawyers acting in her behalf filed suit in federal court, seeking White's admission to Texas Western. While the case was pending, the United States Supreme Court confirmed the desegregation in schools. White's attorneys, however, did not abandon the suit and on July 18 Federal District Judge Robert E. Thomason issued a declaratory judgment in her behalf, permanently enjoining the UT system from denying her or any other African-American student the right to study at Texas Western. In consequence, the first black students enrolled at Texas Western College. Thelma White however, did not enroll but continued to study at New Mexico A&M College until she married Maj. Curtis Camack. They had four children together, and three of them eventually attended the University of Texas at El Paso. White worked at the White Sands Missile Ranch for many years. An academic support network for African-American students at UTEP was founded in 1993 and named in her honor.

Area: Central / University