Hamilton E. Holmes
Hamilton Earl “Hamp” Holmes was born July 8, 1941, in Atlanta. His father, Alfred “Tup” Holmes, was an Atlanta businessman, and his mother, Isabella, was a schoolteacher. As a child Holmes was studious and athletic. He knew early on that he wanted to be a physician, like his grandfather Hamilton Mayo Holmes. Holmes attended Atlanta’s Henry McNeal Turner High School, considered the most prestigious high school for Black students in Atlanta’s segregated public school system. He graduated from Turner in 1959 as valedictorian, having served as both president of his senior class and co-captain of the school’s football team.
Source: New Georgia Encyclopedia
Hamilton Holmes is best known for desegregating the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens. One of the first two African American students admitted to UGA in 1961, Holmes was also the first Black student admitted to the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta two years later.
