Atlanta Civil Rights pioneer who brought down segregation in Georgia colleges, universities turns 92

ATLANTA — An Atlanta Civil Rights pioneer, one of three women who sued the Georgia State College of Business in 1956 to end segregation at the school, is turning 92.

Myra Payne Elliott said she remembers taking the college to federal court, along with Barbara Pace Hunt and Iris Mae Welch, like it was yesterday.

“I wanted to go to school. I graduated valedictorian of my class. I wanted to go to college,” Elliott told Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen.

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In December 2022, the three women were honored by the college, now Georgia State University, for their work to desegregate the institution.

The history of that time is all over the walls of Elliott’s living room.

“I call it the Myra Payne Elliott Georgia State Museum,” her daughter, Jocelyn Gleaton, told Channel 2 Action News.

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Elliott, Hunt and Welch were denied admission to Georgia State College because of their race. Their federal lawsuit challenged and ended segregation at the school, altering the course of history.

“I’m just so proud of her, I couldn’t have had a better mother,” Gleaton said.

GSU awarded the Civil Rights pioneers honorary degrees a few years back.

This week, Elliott is celebrating her 92nd birthday. She is very humble about what she did and the change that followed, but says she’d do it all again.

“It has acted as a motivator that all people will be treated the same. So here we are,” Elliott said.

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