Last Surviving Member of ‘Memphis State Eight’ Pens Memoirs

It took more than 30 years for Bertha R. Looney
to write about her harrowing experience after
desegregating the former Memphis State University.

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.

It took more than 30 years for Looney to enshrine her experience in print, having worked intermittently on the book. “I had to take care for my mom and my brother,” she said. “I was still writing, but I didn’t know what form the writing would take.”

Looney said George Grant of GrantHouse Publishers urged her and the others to write about their experiences in 2011 after one of the eight, Sammie Burnett, had died. “He said it would be good to have it as a record at the [current] University of Memphis,” she said. 

Looney was keeping a record, but it wasn’t coming together just yet — even after the deaths of Blakney, Kneeland, Prater, Gandy, Simpson, and McClellan. Now, as the sole survivor, the book is finally published.

Looney, Blakney and Kneeland were graduates of Hamilton High School; Gandy and Prater, Douglass High School; McClellan and Simpson, Manassas High School; and Burnett, Booker T. Washington High School.

“It was difficult,” said Looney, recounting her experience. “I was surprised that I even went, because I kept telling Mr. (Jesse) Turner (Sr.), who was recruiting students along with the principals of the various high schools, that I didn’t want to be a part of that.”

She wanted to attend Fisk University or LeMoyne College instead. But Turner and other members of the NAACP, including attorneys A.W. Willis, H.T. Lockard, and with assistance from Atty. Constance Baker Motley, needed the group to desegregate the all-white university.

“My father wasn’t able to send me to Fisk,” she said. “I’d been accepted at LeMoyne; that’s where I was going. But Mr. Turner kept calling, calling, and calling. He said, ‘This will be the fourth attempt to get students into Memphis State.’”

Their first day of class was Sept.18, 1959. But nothing was copesthetic. “[It was] the isolation,” she said. “It was eight of us, and, of course, none of us were in the same classes together. [And] we were escorted to class by plainclothes police officers.”

But the eight Black students dared to be first. They succeeded at the behest and ingenuity of Turner, the NAACP, and the cadre of attorneys hellbent on challenging the cruel system of segregation.

Looney’s first major was math. Then she changed it to Business Education, and finally to English. “I didn’t do well as I wanted to in school. I didn’t function as well,” she said. “But I persevered. And I’m glad that I did.” 

They all left indelible legacies at the university, which was renamed the University of Memphis in 1994. A historical marker on the campus sums up their experiences as the “Memphis State Eight.” 

For copies of Bertha R. Looney’s book, contact her at blooney609@yahoo.com or the publisher at granthousepub@aol.com.

Copyright 2026 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved. 

Reparations Back on the Table for Discussion

Reparations once again is the topic of discussion by community
leaders. From left: the Rev. Dr. Kevin C. Peterson (kneeling),
Dr. Carnita Atwater, Tonae Williams, the Rev. Dr. Earle J.
Fisher, Dr. Malcom J. Bryant, and Karen Spencer-McGhee.
(Photo by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – Reparations has been debated and bandied around Congress for more than 35 years after the late U.S. Congressman John Conyers first introduced H.R. 40 (Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act).

Originally introduced in 1989 as H.R. 3745, Conyers continued to re-introduce legislation during each congressional session until his death in 2019. Each time, the case for reparations failed to gain any traction in the Halls of Congress other than study bills and an apology for slavery and Jim Crow laws.

“We are the only people on American soil who were lynched, stolen, raped, killed, our religion taken away from us, and our family broken up,” said Dr. Carnita Atwater, a former gubernatorial candidate. “We are the only people who haven’t gotten reparations.”

Atwater called out specific groups who received some form of federal reparations: the Jews, Japanese Americans, Native Americans, she said, but not African Americans who have yet to be compensated.

On Thursday (Oct. 22), Atwater hosted a community conversation on reparations and premiered a documentary titled “Reparations Untold: An American Story” by the Rev. Dr. Kevin C. Peterson of Boston at Atwater’s Kukutana African American History Museum in North Memphis. 

Peterson, who wrote and produced the film, is the founder of “Faneuil Hall Race + Reconciliation Project.” He began his work on reparations in Boston, where he graduated in 2024 from the Boston University School of Theology.

In addition to the film, Peterson, the Rev. Dr. Earle J. Fisher, senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, and Dr. Malcolm J. Bryant, a retired educator from Memphis who taught at the University of Massachusetts and Boston’s public schools, co-hosted the “community conversation” with Atwater. 

In 2020, Atwater filed a $20 billion class action lawsuit in Chancery Court in Memphis, charging government officials with “genocide and generational neglect, gentrification and displacement, environmental injustice and disparities.” 

On Peterson’s “Reparations Nation: The Podcast” recently, Atwater reiterated her views on reparations and her unyielding fight to see it come to past. She has been one of the leaders in Memphis pushing for reparations and believes that solidarity among African Americans is the key to repairing more than 400 years of damage. 

“Until we come together, we are going to die and not receive reparations,” Atwater said.

Peterson is also seeking redress for damages and a pathway to reparations. He calls it a fight for reparative justice in America. “Reparations are not new, they’re due,” said Peterson, also an author, civic leader, coach, and consultant. 

He hopes to move the conversation “from awareness to action” and moderated a panel discussion featuring community activist Karen Spencer-McGhee, Bryant, Fisher, 11-year-old Tonae Williams, and Atwater as well.

To some people, reparations mean receiving payment in U.S. currency or land acquisition. Bryant, however, equates reparations with acquiring political power. “We need political power in North America right now,” he said.

Atwater sought out Jonae from the audience and beckoned her to sit on the panel. She wanted to hear a child’s perspective on reparations. But Tonae, the granddaughter of author Patricia Lee, was a little shy. 

The concept of reparations seemed too difficult for the 11-year-old to grasp. But Fisher was at Tonae’s side giving her monetary examples to help her understand what it means when something is taken away and restored.

“How would you feel if you had $125 dollars and I take it?” Fisher asked Tonae. “If I gave it back to you would you be satisfied?”

Tonae muttered the answer to Fisher’s question. “No. I’ll be mad,” she said. 

“She understands,” Fisher said.

Copyright 2026 TNTRIBUNE. All rights reserved.