On February 20, 2025, the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center hosted a book talk featuring local Laramie author Phil White. White discussed his latest work, “Trials and Triumphs: Black Americans at the University of Wyoming,” a book that goes into the varying challenges that black students faced at the University of Wyoming, as well as their successes.
White’s book goes over several important events regarding racial justice at the University of Wyoming, such as the Black 14. It also tells the stories of other students at the university, such as Bonnie Mae Fermon, who in 1947 became the first African American graduate student at UWYO. White uses both his personal experience of having attended the school at the time as well as historical records and interviews to provide a detailed and historical look at what was occurring at the university during that time. During his presentation, White shared some personal stories from the time and emphasized everyone’s role in creating a more inclusive future for all at the university.
White has more than just an academic interest in these stories, for him, it’s quite personal. In 1969, he was the editor of this very newspaper, The Branding Iron, and covered the events surrounding the Black 14. His career since then has included work in journalism, law, and as a historian, with one of his notable previous works being, “Wyoming in Mid-Century,” which focuses more on the University of Wyoming during his time there specifically.
After the talk, audience members asked questions and shared their thoughts. Many expressed appreciation for White’s work and noted how these stories remain relevant today, such as one student who chose to remain anonymous who stated, “I think that this talk was really important given that some of these issues are still around today . . . it’s cool to see how far we’ve come though, and it’s crazy that a lot of this stuff happened less than a hundred years ago.” When asked whether or not he would read the book after having attended this talk, he said, “Yeah, I think I might give it a read, it seems important enough.”
White’s research and storytelling helped bring these past experiences to light, offering valuable firsthand insight into the challenges that African American students faced at the university not that long ago. Many audience members expressed their appreciation for the discussion, noting how it shed light on stories that they didn’t know the specifics of until now.
The American Heritage Center plans to host more events highlighting diverse stories from the university’s history. Anyone interested in upcoming talks can contact the center at (307) 766-3756 or ahcref@uwyo.edu.
