Member of the Little Rock Nine, Civil Rights activist and Michigan State University alumnus Ernest Green has been named the 2018 homecoming grand marshal.
He will take part in various MSU homecoming festivities during the week of Oct. 1-6. This year's homecoming theme is "Celebrating Unwavering Courage."
Green helped integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. After graduating in 1958, he was awarded an anonymous scholarship to MSU, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in sociology. It later became known that the scholarship was sponsored by then-president of MSU, John Hannah.
Under President Jimmy Carter, Green served four years working as Assistant Secretary of Labor. Later in his career, Green worked for 30 years as a managing director for a Wall Street investment firm.
Green and other members of the Little Rock Nine were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bill Clinton in 1999.
He and his wife Phyllis have a scholarship set up in their names within MSU's College of Social Science. The Ernest G. and Phyllis C. Green MSU Black Alumni Scholarship "benefits talented students who will enhance program diversity and reinforce the record of commitment by the College of Social Science for educating students who are representative of our larger society."
The homecoming parade takes place on Friday, Oct. 5 in downtown East Lansing and the Spartans play Northwestern on Saturday, Oct. 6 in Spartan Stadium. More information can be found by visiting: alumni.msu.edu/homecoming.