(RALEIGH, N.C.) — Ralph Kennedy Frasier, the final surviving member of a trio of African American youths who were the first to desegregate the undergraduate student body at North Carolina’s flagship public university in the 1950s, has died.
Frasier, who had been in declining health over the past several months, died May 8 at age 85 at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, according to son Ralph Frasier Jr. A memorial service was scheduled for Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, where Frasier spent much of his working career.
Frasier, his older brother LeRoy, and John Lewis Brandon — all Durham high school classmates — fought successfully against Jim Crow laws when they were able to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall of 1955. LeRoy Frasier died in late 2017, with Brandon following weeks later.
Initially, the Hillside High School students’ enrollment applications were denied, even though the UNC law…
