"Negro girl crowned as Miss S.U.I.," 1955

Negro Girl Crowned as MissS.U.L By Ira Kapenstein. (Register Correspondent.) IOWA CITY, lA. —A 17- year-old Negro beauty from; Houston, Tex., was elected by male students at the State University of Iowa as Miss S. U. I. of 1955. Dora Lee Martin, a fresh¬ man, was crowned at the winter formal dance in the Iowa Memorial Union Sat¬ urday night. She was se¬ lected from among 29 can¬ didates. Her attendants were: Bar¬ bara Potts, 22, senior from Des Moines; Marcia Koch, 18, freshman from Wheaton, 111.; Janice Barnes, 19, junior of Iowa City, and Dixie Daven¬ port, 19, freshman from Ana¬ mosa. 2,000 Voted. Nearly.2,000 male students voted Friday in the contest. Miss Martin was 50 votes ahead of the second-place can¬ didate. A u n i versity ' spokesman said it is the first time a Ne¬ gro girl has been elected Miss S. U. I. When notified of her selec¬ tion, Miss Martin was "quite surprised and very, very happy." *ln Houston it will be the biggest shock of the century," she added. Miss Martin, who sings with some of the local bands at par¬ ties in Iowa City, said she has never had any real problems with discrimination. *'Just the Person." "It's not the color of skin that should matter, it's just the person,'* she said. The voting was preceded by five days of caiflpaigning by the candidates and their back¬ ers. The campaigning ended Thursday night with a torch¬ light parade through the city. Loretta Hightower of Clinton was Miss Martin's campaign manager. Miss Martin, who ^is ma¬ joring in dramatic arts, is attending the university on a $4,000 general scholar¬ ship. She was chosen the most promising student in her all-Negro high school in Houston last year. She is 5 feet 6^4 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds. She hopes to go on the stage after graduation. Miss Martin was one of seven candidates from Currier Hall, the largest women's dor¬ mitory at S. U. I. Each soror^ ity was entitled to one candi¬ date. Sorority Pledge. Miss Martin is a pledge of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Negro so¬ cial sorority on the Iowa campus. Her father died when she was a baby, and her mother is an invalid. Miss Martin was raised by her grandmother, Mrs. Ela Freeman. "I have the most wonder¬ ful grandmother in the world," she said, "and she is on^ of the reasons why I want to be successful. She^s worked so hard for me." Miss Martin was escorted to the dance Saturday night by Collins Hagler, a sophomore from Washington, D. C, and an Iowa football player. • ••••*••. I i University of Iowa Libraries. University Arcliives