Mission Statement

"The United Afro-American Society is an organization open to all students. Its goals include making the college community more aware of Black culture, issues, and problems."

The UAAS was first listed in the 1974-75 Student Handbook, and the first UAAS photo (at left) was in the 1973-74 ECHO.

William "Bill" Alexander McClain's Story
The Founding of the UAAS

Bill McClain first visited Greensboro College in 1972 and was recruited to play basketball. After deciding to attend the College, Bill began his collegiate experience in the fall of 1973. It didn't take long for Bill to discover that there were no activities on campus for the small number of African-American students present. Moreover, there was no Student Government Association (SGA) support for sponsoring such activities. The College's African-American students actually had to go to surrounding colleges and universities (UNCG, A&T Univ., Bennett College, Guilford College, etc.) in order to find African-American sponsored activities.

Bill approached the College's President at the time, Rev. Dr. Howard C. Wilkinson, to discuss the issue and the possible formation of an African-American group on campus. Dr. Wilkinson encouraged Bill to work on the development of such a group and sent him to talk with Duke University's Chaplin and Dean of Black Student Affairs since Duke University had an active and successful African-American organization on its campus. After meeting with people and students at Duke University, Bill began working with other African-Americans on campus to develop an organization. The SGA, however, was unresponsive and voted against the official formation of such an organization.

Forging Ahead

Unofficially however, Bill and a number of other African-American students here on campus formed an African-American organization. Even though the organization was unofficial, they still began to have dances, socials, and African-American bands visit campus. With no funding coming from the SGA, all of the money for the events came out of their own pockets. Bill recalls that it didn't take many events before the other students on campus began to come out in support. The SGA Reversal Later in the 1973-74 school year, SGA formally acknowledged the African-American group that then became known as the United Afro-American Society. This was welcome news because it meant that the group would receive annual funding from the SGA to help support activities and events on campus. Bill McClain and Rhonda Ryan served as the first Co-Chairpersons of the UAAS.