Dorms on Tennessee campus being renamed to honor black trailblazers

Symbols of educational success in the African American community will have two dormitories at the University of Tennessee named in their honor.

The Board of Trustees voted to rename one structure for Theotis Robinson, the first Black undergraduate admitted to Tennessee and part of a group of three that desegregated the Knoxville school in 1961.

The other dorm distinction is reserved for Memphis native Rita Sanders Geier—the plaintiff in a landmark court case that helped taxpayer-funded colleges diversify funding among all schools.

(IMAGE: UT Knoxville)