1935 - 1970 |
1935 |
Campus hospital is opened on the second floor of Taylor Hall. Delta Chamber of Commerce (later Delta Council) is organized and President Kethley is the first president of the organization. In addition, the beginning of the tradition that Delta Council holds its annual meeting at Delta State. |
1936 |
Effort by the Legislature to close Delta State because of the financial hard times is averted. Works Progress Administration (WPA) completes outdoor swimming pool and Delta Field opens. |
1938 - 1939 |
Additional buildings constructed with WPA assistance, including Whitfield Gym and Roberts Library. The library being housed in what is now the Fielding Wright Art Building. |
1940 |
Scribes Club is organized and sponsored by Evelyn Hammett. Boy's basketball team finishes third at National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball tournament. Selective Service Act (the draft) is passed |
1941 |
In anticipation of war, a civilian pilot training program is established. December, Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and the United States declares war on the Axis powers. |
1942 |
254 associated with Delta State are members of the armed services. Nursery school opens as part of the home-economics program. 19 buildings make up campus. |
1943 |
Delta State broadens its course offerings and receives authorization to offer both the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. Because of war rationing, an area of campus is converted into a wheat field. |
1944 |
First public demonstration of the mechanical cotton picker near Clarksdale. |
1945 |
Roosevelt dies and Truman becomes president. Germany surrenders and Japan yields after the United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Student enrollment is 185. |
1946 |
Nationwide, over a million GI's enroll in college. Student enrollment at Delta State is 483. Winston Churchill coins the phrase "Iron Curtain" in reference to the division between the Soviet Union and its communist satellite countries and the West. The Cold War begins. 12 year old Kent Wyatt arrives on campus with his family as his father takes a position as instructor in the Physical Education department. Delta State resumes participation in intercollegiate sports. |
1947 |
Enrollment swells to 596. Under-Secretary of State in Truman's administration, Dean Acheson, delivers the address at Delta Council on campus that unveils the Marshall Plan. The plan details postwar relief for Europe. Dean Zeigel retires after serving since the college's opening and Joe Farrar succeeds him. |
1948 |
Truman orders an end to segregation in the armed forces and is elected president. |
1949 |
Soviet Union detonates an atomic bomb. In an effort to extend its facilities and services to the region, Delta State begins offering extension classes in academic and professional fields. |
1950 |
Joseph McCarthy launches anti-Communist crusade. The Korean War begins. Mississippi Vocational College, present-day Mississippi Valley State University, opens in Itta Bena. |
1951 |
First "Student Union" in the Mill, proposed by SGA President Mills Rogers and Vice-President Hugh Ellis Walker. |
1952 |
"Stadium Dormitory" or Hugh L.White Hall, a men's dormitory located at Delta Field, is completed. |
1953 |
Delta State is approved for membership in the American Association of University Women. Korean War ends. |
1954 |
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" in Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, KS. Many southern states, including Mississippi, refuse to desegregate the state's educational facilities |
1955 |
In recognition of the expanding educational programs offered at Delta State, the name is changed to Delta State College. |
1956 |
After thirty years as president, Dr. Kethley resigns and passes away later in the same year. September, Dr. James Milton Ewing becomes president. |
1957 |
Hill Demonstration School closes and the new President's home is completed. |
1959 |
Delta State changes from the quarter system to the semester system. Margaret Wade comes to the Health and Physical Education Department as an instructor from Cleveland High. |
1960 |
John F. Kennedy, Jr. is elected president of the United States. 900 students are enrolled and the upward trend in enrollment begins, bringing with it a need for more dormitories and classrooms. |
1961 |
Walter Sillers Coliseum, Ziegel Fine Arts Hall, Cain-Tatum Dormitory and Caylor-Williams Dormitory are dedicated. |
1962 |
James Meredith, the first African-American student is admitted to the University of Mississippi. Riots ensue in Oxford and 3,000 troops are deployed with 375 injured and 2 killed. |
1963 |
Civil rights campaigns throughout the South start with a voter registration drive in Greenville, MS. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads the march on Washington. JFK is assassinated in Dallas. Delta State gains full accreditation from SACS and enrollment is 1400. Kethley Hall is opened |
1964 |
During Freedom Summer, three civil rights workers are shot near Philadelphia, MS. Civil Rights Act passes to outlaw segregation in public accommodations and creates the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. |
1965 |
Delta State initiates graduate program, a Master of Education in Elementary Education, Elementary Supervision, Guidance, English, History, Math, Music, Social Studies, Business Education, Physical Education, and Science. |
1966 |
Bond-Carpenter Dormitory, Fugler-Hammett Dormitory, and Young-Mauldin Cafeteria opens. National Organization for Women is founded. |
1967 |
First African-American student, Shirley Antoinette Washington, enrolls at Delta State. A College Foundation is established under Boo Ferris. Massive anti-war demonstrations occur around the nation. |
1968 |
W.B. Roberts Library is constructed. Dr. Jack Gunn isappointed Dean of the college. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy are assassinated. Richard Nixon is elected president. |
1969 |
Graduate program expands to include Master of Arts in English and History, the MBA, Master of Library Science, and the M.S. in biology and chemistry. The structure of the academic side of the college is reorganized into three schools - the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, and School of Education Apollo 11 lands on the moon. Nixon begins withdrawing troops from Vietnam. |
1970 |
Court of Governors (men's dormitory) opens. Student killed at Kent State and Jackson State. |
