While researching the desegregation of the University of Arkansas, I began looking for first Black students at various public institutions as well as first Black graduates. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education put together a list in 2001 that included first-known graduates or admission when a graduate couldn’t be found. I updated their list with more recent findings and corrected a couple of instances when a university had an earlier student who received a graduate degree rather than an undergraduate degree.
For an interactive version of this map, go to the DataWrapper version.
| Year | Institution |
| 1836 | University of Delaware |
| 1870 | University of Michigan |
| 1875 | University of Wisconsin |
| 1877 | University of Vermont |
| 1882 | University of Minnesota |
| 1885 | University of Kansas |
| 1892 | University of Nebraska |
| 1892 | Rutgers University, New Jersey |
| 1892 | Ohio State University |
| 1895 | Indiana University |
| 1898 | University of Iowa |
| 1899 | University of Idaho |
| 1900 | University of Illinois |
| 1901 | University of Massachusetts |
| 1905 | University of California |
| 1905 | Pennsylvania State University |
| 1911 | State University of New York-Albany |
| 1914 | University of Rhode Island |
| 1915 | University of Hawaii |
| 1917 | University of Oregon |
| 1918 | University of Colorado |
| 1918 | University of Connecticut |
| 1921 | University of Utah |
| 1922 | University of Montana |
| 1926 | University of New Hampshire |
| 1927 | University of Maine |
| 1930 | University of the District of Columbia |
| 1930 | University of Nevada |
| 1935 | University of Arizona |
| 1938 | University of New Mexico |
| 1939 | University of North Dakota |
| 1941 | University of Washington |
| 1951 | University of Arkansas |
| 1951 | University of Maryland |
| 1951 | University of Oklahoma |
| 1952 | Louisiana State University |
| 1953 | University of Texas |
| 1954 | West Virginia University |
| 1957 | University of Missouri |
| 1958 | University of Kentucky |
| 1959 | University of Florida |
| 1959 | University of Virginia |
| 1961 | University of North Carolina |
| 1961 | University of Tennessee |
| 1963 | University of Georgia |
| 1963 | University of Mississippi |
| 1965 | University of Alabama |
| 1965 | University of South Carolina |
| Unknown | University of Alaska-Fairbanks |
| Unknown | University of South Dakota |
| Unknown | University of Wyoming |
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