African-American Heritage Trail marker to be added at MSU campus

The African-American Heritage Trail, an initiative that got its start in 2018, is expanding with a new trail marker.

The marker will honor Mary Jean (Price) Walls, the first Black applicant to Missouri State University, according to a news release. A ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Aug. 21 to dedicate the trail marker at the Mary Jean Price Walls Multicultural Resource Center on the lower level of Plaster Student Union.

"In 1950, Walls was the first Black student to apply to Missouri State. Though she was qualified – she was salutatorian of her class – she was denied admission," officials said in the release.

The trail marker, funded through a private donation, is the eighth on the Springfield-Greene County African-American Heritage Trail. The initiative has 20 markers planned.

Lyle Foster, a businessperson who is one of the leaders behind the African-American Heritage Trail and an associate professor at MSU, said former Missouri State President Clif Smart and his wife, Gail, donated more than $6,000 for the trail marker.

Walls, who died in July 2020, was presented with an honorary bachelor’s degree from MSU in 2010. The Multicultural Resource Center was named after her in 2016.