Touching moment sees Georgia Tech’s first Black graduate hand over diploma
Ronald Yancey became the first Black student to graduate from Georgia Tech in 1965 and this year he passed the baton handing his granddaughter her diploma.
Georgia Institute of Technology was the first university in the Deep South to integrate without a court order admitting the first Black students in 1961. Four years later, Atlanta-native Ronald Yancey became the first to graduate from the prestigious institution of higher learning.
59 years later, the trailblazer had the honor of “passing the baton” to his granddaughter, Deanna Yancey who earned her master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering at Georgia Tech. He was not only present at McCamish Pavilion for this year’s Spring Commencement but also on stage to hand his granddaughter her diploma.
Touching moment sees Georgia Tech’s first Black graduate hand over diploma
The public research university also known as Georgia Tech released a video on Instagram of the moment when the younger Yancey went up on stage to accept her diploma. After shaking hands with President Angel Cabrera she continued over to her grandfather where the two embraced before posing for a picture.
It appears she was able to contain her emotions as she had said prior to the event that she would probably get “a little teary.” She said of getting her master’s diploma from the same university that her grandfather had made history at that “it signifies the passing of a baton from one engineer to another. But more importantly, the struggle that he saw is not the struggle that’s going on now.”
Deanna’s grandfather had been overjoyed when she told him that she would be attending Georgia Tech for her master’s
Despite being accepted to Georgia Tech, Deanna chose to go to Penn State to get her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. “I think my family was surprised by that decision but still extremely happy for me,” she shared in a news release from the university.
After getting her undergraduate diploma in 2020 she reapplied to her grandfather’s alma mater for an online master’s program. However, she kept her family in the dark about her plans until she got her acceptance letter.
“I didn’t tell my family I was applying, so when I got in, I got to read the acceptance email to my grandfather,” she said. “He was so happy. He almost started jumping; he was so excited.”
Deanna says that she wants to pursue a career in management a position from which she would be able to support the next generation of young engineers.