UVA honors first African-American Lawn resident Amos Leroy Willis

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On Tuesday afternoon, students and administrators packed into the Colonnade Club in Pavilion VII on the UVA Lawn to honor Amos Leroy Willis, a pioneer in civil rights activism at the university. Willis was both the first African-American student to graduate from UVA’s College of Arts & Sciences in 1962 and the first African-American student to live in a Lawn room, an honor for students in their fourth year. Read below the photo for more on the event.

A plaque was installed in Willis’ old room, 43 West Lawn, to commemorate the strides he made in achieving racial equality. Willis was admitted to the School of Engineering in 1959, which was the only desegregated school at UVA. The following year, his interests shifted to the liberal arts, and he petitioned the administration to allow his entrance to the College, which he received in January 1961.

“I asked, wouldn’t it be nice if this administration would live up to the high moral creed that Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence?” Willis said.

According to UVA President John Casteen, plaques are rarely found on the Lawn. “We reserve that kind of notation for the most extraordinary people,” he said.


To celebrate the installation, a reception was held for Willis, with his family, friends, and members of the University community in attendance. Opening remarks were made by Maurice Apprey, Dean of the Office of African-American Affairs, who reflected on Willis’ experiences “studying in an atmosphere of strife, protest and even hatred.”

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