July 11, 2009

Conway (Faulkner County) native Edith Irby Jones became the first African American to attend and graduate from the University of Arkansas Medical School, now the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), in Little Rock (Pulaski County). A 1952 graduate, she was not only a pioneer in the desegregation of higher education in Arkansas and the South, but she also has served as a highly successful doctor, educator, and philanthropist in Arkansas, Texas, and overseas. She is shown here in her graduation portrait.