There was a time when new students at the University of Florida received a punch card containing all of their class information. The punch card allocated only a limited number of letters for their first and last name.In 1962, a newly admitted student received one of those cards.“John Williams,” it stated. The card listed the student’s classes and housing: a boys’ physical education class and a room in a boys’ residence hall.Except, that “John Williams” did not exist. Johncyna Williams was her name. And she, along with her would-be roommate, was about to make history.It had been several years since the Florida Supreme Court ordered UF to desegregate its graduate and professional schools. But UF would not integrate its undergraduate student body until 1962 — the same year Johncyna and six others began their studies at UF.“I had no clue at 17 – 18 years old,” Johncyna said. “It’s a college. I didn’t know there weren’t other African American students at the time.”
With help from the “dorm mother” for Mallory Hall, Johncyna’s punch card information and housing were corrected. When she met her roommate, Rose Green, the two girls realized they were among the first Black undergraduate students at UF.Thirteen years prior, six African Americans were denied admission to UF. This resulted in a lawsuit against the university, and in the following years, the movement to desegregate Florida’s universities reached the Supreme Court of the United States.In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that Virgil Hawkins, the only remaining petitioner of the lawsuit, was entitled to prompt admission to UF. In 1958, Hawkins withdrew his application to the College of Law in exchange for UF’s desegregation.W. George Allen became the first African American to graduate with a law degree from UF in 1962.Allen had come to Johncyna’s still-segregated high school encouraging students to apply to UF. He told them other applications from Black students had been “lost” and taught them how to send them by certified mail.
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