MEMPHIS, TN – Bertha Rogers Looney is the last surviving member of the “Memphis State Eight,” a group of Black students who broke the color barrier in the fall of 1959 when they enrolled at Memphis State University.
That year, 4,500 students had enrolled at the university. Among them were Looney (who enrolled as Bertha Rogers), Rose Blakney, Marvis L. Kneeland, Ralph Prater, Eleanor Gandy, Luther C. McClellan, John Simpson, and Sammie Burnett.
This was the fourth attempt by Black students to desegregate the university. Five tried and failed in 1954. Two others were denied admission to graduate school in 1957. And four were denied in 1958, including Kneeland, Prater and Burnett.
In her book, “We Dared to be First: Memoirs of a Memphis State Eight Trailblazer” (GrantHouse Publishers 2026), Looney captures in words and photographs her own trailblazing experience…