Plaque memorializing Lynn Briley, Karen Ely, Janet Brown Strafer
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- Legacies Classification
- Memorial Type
- Memorial Context
- Memorialized Subject
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- Memorial Inscription
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Memorial Object
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Plaque/Marker
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Briley, Lynn
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Ely, Karen
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Strafer, Janet Brown
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Plaque memorializing Lynn Briley, Karen Ely, Janet Brown Strafer
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During the 2017-18 academic year, the university has been commemorating the 50th anniversary of its first African-American students in residence: Lynn Briley, Karen Ely and Janet Brown Strafer, members of the Class of 1971.
Lynn Briley, Janet Brown Strafer and Karen Ely were the first African American undergraduates (1967-71) to live in residential halls and take full advantage of campus facilities and offerings.
“To have plaques honoring the first residential African-American students and the first women in such a historical building on campus is a significant gesture toward the inclusion part of diversity and inclusion and hopefully will continue in other tangible ways,” said Jacqui McLendon, emerita professor of English and chair of the 50th commemoration committee.
“It is particularly fitting that the names of the three women — Lynn Briley, Karen Ely and Janet Brown Strafer — who were the first African Americans to be fully integrated into the academic life of this university, along with a reference to earlier pioneers who had been denied full access but played a key role in the process of integration, be prominently and forever integrated into the soul of the College with the installation and dedication of this beautiful plaque,” McLendon said. “We will continue to build upon the richness of their legacy not just for this academic year, but for all time.”
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marble plaque mounted in the Wren building portico
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William & Mary honors
Lynn Briley
Karen Ely
Janet Brown Strafer
Who in September 1967 enrolled
as the first African American students
in resident and whose fortitude resulted
in their being the first African American
women graduates of William & Mary.
We also pay tribute
to those African American students
earlier denied full participation
but who played a key role in the
process of integration and who preserved
through some of the most challenging
moments in our nation's history.
We honor these brave African American
women and men whose courage, conviction,
strength, and resilience paved the way
for others who have built on their legacy,
enriching the life of William & Mary
and changing it for the greater good.
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50th Anniversary of African Americans in Residence Committee
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Kern, Susan
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April 20, 2018
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William & Mary
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