CHANGEMAKER 13: HORACE TALIAFERRO WARD

Horace Taliaferro Ward was born in LaGrange, Georgia, in 1927, and was the first Black student who applied for admission to the University of Georgia, and challenged their racially discriminatory policies. Later, he became Georgia's first Black Superior Court Judge. 

He applied to Georgia's Law School in 1950 but was rejected because he was Black, and he sued the university. Although his case was dismissed, it contributed to the Desegregation of Higher Education, a legal campaign launched by the NAACP. In 1961, the University of Georgia was ordered to admit two other Black students by Judge William Bootle. Ward pursued his studies at Northwestern University and continued to combat racial discrimination.

Ward joined the U.S. Army and served in Korea in the 1950s, but as he returned to the USA, he continued his law career and worked as an instructor at different universities and, eventually, served in the Georgia Senate from 1965 until 1974. In 1979, he was appointed as Federal Judgeship on the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by President Jimmy Carter. In 2014, Ward received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of Georgia.

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Photo credit: Atlanta Journal Archive/1979