Furman University honors 61 years since Joseph Vaughn broke barriers

Below-freezing temperatures brought this year’s Joseph Vaughn Day commemoration indoors, but Furman University’s community took that opportunity Friday to bundle closer together in the Daniel Chapel.

Joseph Vaughn Day honors the legacy of Joseph Allen Vaughn ’68, Furman’s first Black undergraduate student who enrolled on Jan. 29, 1965. His first days on campus are immortalized in the statue at Joseph Vaughn Plaza, showing him climbing the Duke Library steps with textbooks under his arm and a sweater warming him from the late-January chill.

Though his courage to come to Furman 61 years ago is admirable and inspiring, President Elizabeth Davis said his persistence is what kept him here every moment after those pioneering steps.

Stanley Williams, commemorative speaker during the Joseph Vaughn Day ceremony, shakes hands with President Elizabeth Davis after speaking at Daniel Chapel on Jan. 30.

“We can do great work if we embody the courage that Joseph Vaughn modeled for us,” Davis said.

Marcus Tate ’12, a cousin of Vaughn, lit a candle in honor of his relative, followed by a moment of silence to reflect on his legacy.

Vaughn met the moment

His time at Furman coincided with political upheaval and contentious public discourse, and college campuses were the staging grounds for mass protest movements. He headed the student “Talk-a-Topic” committee, said Cynthia King, associate dean of academic community, and was enthusiastically engaged with the issues of his time. He seized every opportunity to take ownership of his education.

“Joe Vaughn was the model that pushed and drove us to be whatever we would become,” said Stan Williams, who graduated alongside Vaughn in 1964 from the all-Black Sterling High School in Greenville, South Carolina. “He was an exemplar.”

Remarks from Roger Abim-Karmon ’26

Public health major Roger Abim-Karmon ’26 told attendees that it’s essential to also remember a woman who knocked at Furman’s doors before Vaughn stepped in: LaBarbara Powell Sampson. She was the first Black student to apply to Furman in 1964, and Abim-Karmon urged the audience to seek out and celebrate the stories of others who pushed boundaries and paved the way for those who came after.

“LaBarbara knocked on a door that never opened for her, but we need to celebrate that, too,” he said.

Idella Goodson Glenn Outstanding Black Alumni Award

Marcus Tate, a relative of Joseph Vaughn, lights a candle in honor of Vaughn during the Joseph Vaughn Day ceremony.

This year’s Idella Goodson Glenn Outstanding Black Alumni Award went to the Rev. Regenald Garrett ’98, senior pastor at the historic Jubilee Baptist Church and president of Furman’s Black Alumni Association.

The award honors exceptional individuals who demonstrate high achievement and exemplary leadership. Glenn, a 1984 graduate of Furman, worked for 18 years as the university’s director of multicultural affairs and assistant vice president for student development. But Garrett called her “big sister.”

“To have my name connected to Idella, that’s just incredible,” Garrett said. When he enrolled, he was walking into a history of people like Vaughn and Glenn who broke ground and smoothed the path some.

“When I came to Furman I didn’t just bring my excitement, I brought a legacy,” he said. His involvement and leadership in organizing and outreach to Black alumni is part of his efforts to honor that legacy.

“Because somewhere someone is out there thinking ‘I don’t have what it takes to go to Furman University,” he said. He hopes history and the examples of others can prove them wrong.