A newly installed marker on the campus of Missouri State University commemorates one of its historic candidates.
On August 21, a ceremony was held to dedicate a marker on the Springfield-Greene County African-American Heritage Trail. The marker is dedicated to Mary Jean Price Walls, the first black person to apply for courses at MSU.
The marker joins a list of other sites significant to black history in Springfield, said Lyle Foster, trail organizer and associate professor at Missouri State University.
“It’s hard to put into words what this means,” Foster said. “There are a lot of people that history may have forgotten or thought were unimportant, but now their stories are coming out. We can see who they were and learn a much more complete story.”
Right student, wrong place and wrong time
Walls was born in Strafford in 1932, grew up in Springfield, and graduated second in her class from Lincoln High School in 1950. With promising future prospects and a desire to become a teacher, she applied to MSU to continue her education.
In 1950, MSU was two things: It was known as Southwest Missouri State College and was a segregated white-only college. Walls’ application was rejected.
The tombstone tells the story of what happened next. Walls was unable to attend Lincoln College, the closest black college in the state, in Jefferson City. She married Elwyn Walls in 1953, raised eight children, and worked as a janitor.
Her obituary, published by Herman Lohmeyer Funeral Home, tells the story of a woman who loved to read, prepare big meals for her family and play pranks on her loved ones on her favorite day, April Fools’ Day.
Foster said the addition of the trail to the MSU campus is particularly meaningful because it connects black history with the value of education.
“What that says about her is how important education is,” Foster said. “She was a janitor for the rest of her life, but she was the top student in her high school class. Imagine if she had gotten that education, and what difference would that have made to her family’s income and opportunities?”
The marker wasn’t the only way Walls’ regrettable rejection was recognized by MSU. In 2010, Walls received a historic first: an honorary doctorate. Honorary doctorates are usually awarded at the graduate level, according to MSU.
In 2016, the Mary Jean Price Walls Multicultural Resource Center was named in her honor. Located on the ground floor of the Plaster Student Union, the center provides services and spaces for members of communities that have been historically marginalized and/or underrepresented. Services include a community room, computer lab, prayer rooms for spiritual practices, and more.
During the ceremony last week, Walls’ son, Terry Amin Walls, spoke about how he discovered the rejection. While studying criminology, Foster said, a research librarian at Meyer Library helped him search through university records and find his mother’s rejected application.
Hiking trails tell the story of Springfield
The marker joins seven others on the African-American Heritage Trail that document little-told stories of black history, Foster said. They include Springfield’s Park Central Square, the site where three young black men were lynched in 1906, shaping the city’s racial makeup for decades.
According to Foster, a total of 20 locations are planned for the privately funded hiking trail.
Some of the places no longer exist, Foster said, such as Alberta’s Hotel. The three-story building just off Chestnut Expressway and Benton Avenue began as a hospital for the black community and eventually became a hotel that accommodated travelers along Route 66.
Other buildings, however, still stand proudly, such as the Lincoln School. The building, now called Lincoln Hall, houses nursing and medical programs at Ozarks Technical Community College. The college is nearing completion of a renovation project that has given the interior of the building a period-typical Art Deco look.
“It was the center of black community activity,” Foster said of the school. “It housed a library branch and hosted proms and other community events. Many people who still live in Springfield today went to Lincoln and had a great experience.”
