Sixty-seven years after plainclothes police escorted her between classes at a segregated Memphis State University, Bertha Rogers Looney sat inside the Administration Building atrium on Friday signing copies of her new memoir. The book, subtitled Memoirs by a Memphis State Eight Trailblazer, marks the latest chapter for the last living member of the eight Black students who integrated the campus in September 1959.
The book signing, held on the 67th anniversary of that integration, included an introduction from University of Memphis President Bill Hardgrave and a proclamation from Memphis City Councilwoman Jana Swearengen-Washington, according to The Daily Helmsman. As reported by FOX13 Memphis, Looney said she had wanted to write something over the years but not on this magnitude, and that she hoped later generations would find something in her life they could do.
A Freshman Year Under Constant Watch
When Looney and seven classmates enrolled at Memphis State in September 1959, they were required to exit campus grounds by noon and were forbidden from entering cafeterias, student centers, or physical education courses, per the same Daily Helmsman account and further detailed by Southwest Tennessee Community College. Plainclothes police officers escorted the students between classes, and Looney was required to sit in the back of class, according to FOX13 Memphis. She was also barred from many school-sanctioned events, including the home football game held the day after the campus integrated in 1959, the station reported.
The university's resistance to integration did not begin with the students' arrival. Memphis State delayed desegregation five years past the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, and President J. Millard “Jack” Smith had publicly vowed that no Black students would be admitted during his tenure, according to The Tennessee Tribune. The university integrated that September.
The Memphis State Eight
The group included Looney, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Rose Blakney Love, Luther McClellan, John Simpson, Ralph Prater, Eleanor Gandy, and Sammie Burnett Johnson. Looney graduated from Hamilton High School in 1959, according to the Historical Marker Database.
Looney is now the sole surviving member of that group. Luther McClellan, who became the first African American student to graduate from Memphis State in May 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics before serving as a U.S. Air Force Major and Federal Aviation Administration director, died on July 12, 2024, at age 83, according to the Tri-State Defender. Ralph Prater, who used his personal car to ferry fellow group members to and from campus for safety during their freshman year, died on August 8, 2022, after a career as a corporate attorney for Chevron Oil, the outlet reported.
From Exclusion to a Stadium Suite
The campus has since named its central walkway the Luther C. McClellan Alumni Mall, dedicated in September 2021 and building on a historical marker erected in 2012 to honor the group.
Looney's own path continued well past her undergraduate years. She went on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees in English, launching a teaching career spanning more than 45 years across Memphis City Schools, Southwest Tennessee Community College, and international classrooms overseas, according to the university's alumni association.
The symbolism of her weekend in Memphis was not lost on the moment. Barred from attending the home football game the day after campus integrated in 1959, Looney was set to watch the Memphis Tigers face the UT Martin Skyhawks on Saturday from a suite, according to FOX13 Memphis.
