After an LSU professor realized the Student Health Center was built atop a cemetery for enslaved plantation workers, he found himself a year later standing on the SHC’s grounds reading
The Hill Memorial Library holds the truth to the entire Middleton controversy and the documents the university used to make their decision to ultimately disassociate from Troy H. Middletonâs likeness.
University archivist Zach Tompkins said the university used various letters, documents and records to discover where LSUâs administration, including Middleton, stood during the transition to desegregate the university.
âNo one has seen these letters,â Tompkins said. âNo one has asked for these letters to see how the university made its decision.â
The period after Brown v. Board of Education was a very uncertain time for institutions of higher education, especially in the South. Movements to both integrate schools and keep Black students segregated worked tirelessly to achieve their goals.