Professor Patrol Map, List, and Instructions
This exhibit is a map of the University of Georgia Campus marked up by campus security prior to Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s arrival on campus on January 12, 1961. Also included is a list of professors who pledged to hold the patrols in hopes of keeping Charlayne safe on campus. The red marks are paths to be controlled and the blue circles with ‘x’ inside mark the presence of a payphone.
Hunter was scheduled to live in Myers Hall, an all-girl’s dormitory at the time. As can be seen, a clear focus was placed on patrolling this area in order to protect her. However, despite the professors’ best attempts to protect their newest newsworthy student, when riots broke out on Myers Quad, a simple academic patrol was not enough to avoid trouble, and town police and eventually state patrol had to be called to the scene to disperse the crowd (Habersham). Despite feeling as if she wore "a layer of figurative armor," Hunter still needed protecting from the mobs of hate that she faced (Schlabach).
While the professor patrol was unsuccessful, the desire of the academic community to protect Hunter reveals that her courage brought out the bravery in supportive people. In the exhibit above, 46 professors signed to protect Hunter from any remotely suspicious activity, as they “accepted responsibility for carrying out duties.” It is interesting to realize that the local and state police were not concerned with Hunter’s fight for education. Instead, they were concerned only retrospectively. Therefore, whereas the police would not proactively protect her, the academic community rose up in the face of adversity to do so.
Hunter’s courage inspired the community around her to attempt their own acts of bravery, and in the process, in the thick of these horrible events, Charlayne Hunter-Gault changed the University of Georgia by .