Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Hamilton Holmes were the first African-American students to attend UGA in 1961. The UGA Holmes-Hunter lecture series is named after the two, and this year, Hunter-Gault will be the keynote speaker.
Hunter-Gault is an award-winning journalist who graduated from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. After that, she went on to work for media outlets like NPR, CNN, PBS, The New York Times and The New Yorker.
Hunter-Gault has also won multiple journalism awards including two Emmys and two Peabody awards. She was the first African-American speaker to give a commencement address at UGA in 1988.
The Holmes-Hunter lecture will be held on February 15th at 2 p.m. in the UGA Chapel, and it is open to the public.
The lecture has been in place since 1985 and focuses on race relations, civil rights and education.