Diane Hardy Thompson on Applying to The W

"It was just divine intervention... It was an assignment. Well, in our English class, we had to write letters of application to various colleges. That's what our teacher had us do that day. And I wrote just like everybody else, but I would start laughing to myself. I said, “What if I wrote to Mississippi State College for Women? I wonder how they would react.” So, it was really a joke that I did it. I went ahead and wrote to them and mailed it. You know, not thinking anything about it. Like, I could just see their reaction when they get this letter from this colored girl from R.E. Hunt High School. So that was the end of it. Never thought any more about it at all…"

[Recounting how she was called into the principal’s office and questioned about her intention to go to The W. Then waited through the summer for a response.]

"I never heard from them [MSCW] until maybe a couple of weeks before it was time for school to start that I ever got a letter of acceptance. All three of us. We got those letters at the same time."

~Diane Hardy Thompson

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Diane Hardy Yearbook Photo, circa 1966.
Mississippi University for Women Archives, Meh Lady Collection.

Diane Hardy Thompson Oral History.
Billups-Garth Archives, Columbus-Lowndes Public Library.